Recyclables
by Kittey Rin
Summary: Naruto is a student plagued by nightmares. Is it just the overactive imagination of a teenager, or is it something more? Reincarnation or reincarnated Naruto fic. SasuNaru, NaruSasu
1. Chapter I

A/N: Okay, so I'm not really supposed to be starting another story. I still have two in progress, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't find any Naruto reincarnation fics that caught my interest, and my solution to that was try writing one myself. I dunno if people will review and like it or not, but it's worth a shot. If people don't like it, I'll stop until I finish one of my other two. If people do...I dunno. I'm thinking there are a few too many ones like these out there to be taken seriously...

Well, now that that ramble is out of the way, there's a couple things I want to point out. If it's confusing, ask questions and I'll answer later. If you get disgusted out by Naru-chan's apartement, it's supposed to be bone-chillingly nightmare-ish to those who are on the obsessive compulsive side. Third, I must warn you that this just MIGHT turn out to be a SasuNaru if I have any pairings at all. I can't help it if I'm a shounen-ai fan, and they just...work together. So, if you are homophobic, be warned. It's not SasuNaru yet, but there is the potential!

Hm. I do believe that is it, except the disclaimer. Here it is then: I own nothing about the characters, places or things (and ideas!) from Naruto. That belongs to its rightful owner!

So, without further ado, I present my hand at trying a Naruto fic. Please give it back when you're done!

Edit Note: This IS a SasuNaru, as of the second chapter.

_

* * *

He was so cold. So alone. He shivered in a non-existant breeze, clutching his arms to his chest. A black abyss surrounded him, suffocating him. It pressed at his very soul, consuming him in an ever-existing night. It told him that he was ever a part of him. He would belong to the darkness for all eternity, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it. He was powerless against the night, forever trapped within his own nightmare-ish memories._

_The scene abruptly changed. From the darkness below him spred out to show a small village. A proud village, with each building different from the last. The stone pavement that ran from house to house, speeding in between buildings and winding through parks all across this small place was already polished with wear and weather. Grass grew in the cracks of each cobblestone. Plants lined themselves up in little gardens behind small fences that closed front yards away from curious animals and children. Rolling hills spanned out from the village, encompassing the black abyss and chasing away the night. Mountain ranges stretched out from the ground, reaching towards the neverending blue sky above him. On one such range just outside the village, familiar faces with long-since-forgotten names molded themselves into the granite rock._

_People began to appear. Men, women, and children of all ages scuttled about as life was breathed into the scene. Adults bargained with each other for food and other necessities. Children ran around, getting into everything as elders watched over them and scolded those creating mischeif. Birds and other woodland creatures called from the forest springing up from outside the village, creating backround music for the cacophany of voices shouting about to make themselves heard._

_In the shadows of a large, old cherry tree a young face peered onto the scene. A spectator like him, the young boy watched people fly by as the sun moved past the horizon. A wood-and-rope swing was pushed forward as a breeze swept past the tree. The shadows began to darken as night began to settle onto the scene, causing the villagers to mill about, lighting torches to keep the darkness at bay._

_The young boy moved out of his hiding place, and he got his first glimpse. A young boy that stuck a chord somewhere deep in his heart, so familiar that he wanted to cry. Blonde hair swayed with the breeze, ruffled and unkempt. His stark blue eyes stood out against his tanned skin, making him more different than the other children that possessed dark hair and even darker eyes. Loneliness sang from those innocent eyes, watching the children laughing and playing with each other. As one child began to creep too near him, the child's parents quickly pulled him away from the blonde-haired boy._

_Sadness consumed the boy. All at once he could hear the young child's thoughts. '_They only think of me as a monster. I am a monster. I don't belong here, and I never will._' He wanted to rush up to the boy, reassure him that everything would be alright. '_Everyone hates me._' He wanted to tell the blue-eyed youth that yes, people did love him. That he would find happiness if he could just hang on a little longer._

_Just as he was about to reach out, the scene changed again. Darkness flooded back, blocking out all color and life that had once filled his vision. All emotion was drained from him, barring fear, pain and lonliness. He was alone again, drifting once more in a sea of black. He didn't know what to expect, and what happened next came as somewhat of a shock._

_He saw a person floating there. An older version of the same boy he had seen just moments before. His fine-toned body was taller and more lean than the young lad, and he had filled out more. He still had the unkempt blonde hair, held out of his face by a black-colored bandana with a peice of silver plating on the middle. The plate was carved with a sort of leaf symbol, a symbol that spoke volumes to him in a language he couldn't understand. He wore the same orange jumpsuit he had possessed for a very long time, and how he knew that, he didn't know. Whisker marks across his cheek made the old face look younger somehow. His blue eyes, that had been filled with longing as the young boy looked upon the playing children, were filled with fear and pain._

_As he watched, distraught at the scene unraveling before him, he saw the man (for he was no child, to say the least) get struck down by a giant weapon. It looked like one of the ninja throwing stars he had seen once at a pawn shop, except much larger. It struck him dead in the back, and from the surprise in his eyes, he wasn't expecting that. The man fell forward onto his hands and knees, coughing blood up to pool below him on the shadowed plane. They both looked up simutaniously, and saw a man striding forward._

_He looked almost exactly like the other villagers. Black hair and black eyes that coldly calculated his oponnent. Pale skin made the man look like one of the undead. His outfit, that of a jounin ninja from Konoha village (how he knew this, again, he didn't know) blended halfway into the darkness. As both of them watched, his eyes changed to blazing red. Little swirls appeared and his entire demeaner changed to that of rage. There was no sanity in those eyes. They had lost all appearence of humanity long before this moment._

_The blonde man shivered. He coughed again, blood pouring from both his wound and from the corner of his mouth. He spoke, softly and disbelieving. "Sasuke-kun...why?" His eyes pleaded with the other man, Sasuke, to tell him the truth. Why had he done this? Why this betrayal?_

_Sasuke leered down at him, reaching into a side pocket to pull out a sort of knife. "Usuratonkachi," his icy voice purred, "did you really think I would stay with you? That you and I could really belong?" Without notice, he leapt forward and stabbed the man in the chest. The man gasped and fell forward, into Sasuke's waiting arms. "You were never meant to be...Naruto."_

_------ _

"Sasuke!"

He sat up quickly, panting with fright. Sweat glistened over his entire body, brought from the adrenaline that was just now retreating from his bloodstream. His arms were shaking as he propped himself up, the sheets strewn about him proving that he had been shifting around in his sleep. A wierd taste filled his mouth, and he reached up one of his clammy hands to his lips. Pulling away, he noticed his fingertips came back wet. He must've bitten his lip while sleeping, then.

Glancing over at his clock, he knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again. Once Hamasaki Naruto was awake in the morning, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again until that night. Even if it was five-in-the-bloody morning. Instead, he threw the blankets off of himself and stood. Walking to he bathroom just a few steps beyond his bed (and stubbing his toe on a few things lying on the floor), he decided that if he was awake, he might as well be getting ready for school.

He entered the bathroom, after walking into the wall, and flipped the switch. A warm glow filled his sea-green-colored bathroom, greeting him with jade ivys near the ceiling and brown tiles decorating the showering area. Naruto reminded himself that he needed to re-paint this area. He really didn't like waking up to so much green. He'd much prefer it to match his towels.

_Speaking of,_ he thought, _where did I put them?_ He turned a little and noticed a small peice of material sticking out from behind the door. Moving the giant plank of wood, he picked up his neon-orange, very fluffy towel and slammed the door. He slung the orange monstrosity on the brown towel rack (_who in their right mind makes a bathroom _brown he wondered briefly) and began to strip.

He stepped into the shower moments later, pulling his equally-bright orange shower curtain shut. Spinning the dial towards cold, he turned the shower on."Holy shit, that's cold!" he squealed, shivering. At least he was awake now. Deciding he'd rather not catch a cold this early in the season, he quickly ran through his shower routine.

Ten minutes later, he was roughly towel-drying his dirty-blonde hair with a second orange towel, the first wrapped around his waist. He felt much better now that he had gotten that dream-sweat off of him. The dream was still on his mind, but he forcefully pushed it aside. There really wasn't any time to dwell, if he wanted to get to school soon. He didn't think that being late for his first -official, mind- day of school.

At least he didn't have to make sure he had something somewhat-clean and half-decent to wear. No, he just had to throw on his new (and clean!) black school uniform and make breakfast before he would be able to run out the door and make his way to school. Hunting down the uniform, though...that would be the hard part.

"Now, where _did_ I put it?" he wondered as he surveyed the battlefield that was his room. Deciding to start somewhere, he waded through the Sea of Used Ramen Cups That He Hadn't Bothered To Put Away, braved the Desert of Movies And Music Collections That He Hadn't Bothered To Pick Up, and finally made his way to the Clothing Mountain Range of Garments He Hadn't Bothered To Wash. Moving about the range, he dug into the piles to pull out various peices of clothing, nothing of which was his elusive uniform. Getting frustrated, he threw the towel he had been using to dry his hair to the side. Kneeling, he began to dismantle the range without regard to the various...things that had decided to lodge there.

After a further amount of time, he pulled out a black pair of slacks and black overshirt. Shaking his head, he snagged a pair of boxers from the decimated mountain and began to dress. It took mere minutes to figure out how to button all of the clasps and close all the zippers that held the ensemble together.

Finally, his stomach protesting loudly, he was able to exit his bedroom and walk the short hall to his pitiful kitchen. If anything, it was worse than the World of His Bedroom. He grimaced and kept his mind off of the mold and slime that covered most of the surfaces. One of these days he was going to have to clean his entire apartment, he decided reluctantly. Shrugging it off, he made his way to the refridgerator (skirting a pile of muck the he _swore_ snarled at him) and opened it to an awful smell.

"Ugh, what died in here?" he mused. "Ah, a rat." He picked up the poor creature, who had obviously been poisoned by something rotten, and tossed it behind him. "Oh well, I guess that means I should watch what I decide to eat." He put a thoughtful look on his face, deciding that he would eat the leftover pork ramen from the night before, and took out a small paper bag.

Dancing his way back across the kitchen, he turned to the living room. More of a study, it held his school stuff and the one and only computer he had ever owned. Truly a piece of junk, but Naruto didn't have the money nor the means to get a better one. Considering most of his schoolwork had online pieces attatched, he had to put up with it.

Pulling the desk chair out with a foot, he sat down. The chair groaned under his wieght and he shook his head. Most of the stuff in his apartment had either failed, broken, or was on the brink of kicking the can. Naruto just added a new chair to the list of things he needed to fix, buy, or duct-tape together.

Stomach growling again, he ignored all else and pulled out a small take-out bowl of ramen. He would have to eat it cold (his microwave had decided to explode the night before), but didn't complain. Grabbing a pair of chopsticks, he tossed the bag onto the floor and dug into breakfast.

He finished his meal forty-five minutes later, sighing with contentment. Nothing got rid of a bad dream like ramen. Nothing at all. He turned his head to glance at the clock on the wall...

And cursed. "I'm going to be late, I can't believe it's already quarter to seven!" he told the front door as he pulled on his shoes. "Why didn't someone _tell _me I was running late?" Getting no answer did nothing for the way he felt. Making sure he had his keys, he scooped up a bag sitting by the doorway and rushed out the door.

It slammed behind him, and Naruto could hear people complaining about the noise. He didn't let anything distract him as he sped down the fifteen flights of stairs to the entrance of the building, propelling out of the enrtyway as if he were shot out of a canon. He dodged people, cars and other obsticles as he ran down the now-familiar path to school.

He just hoped his luck didn't get worse than it already was.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? 


	2. Chapter II

A/N: Okay, I said I would get a new chapter for this story out last night, didn't I? About time, huh? I mean...AUGUST! Yeesh...

Alright, so, a few notes. I don't know how many people are actually reading this now, but I'm going to try and pay more attention to this. There are a few things I should say before I forget, too...

1- This IS an AU, sort of. I mean, you wouldn't be reading this unless you wanted a reincarnation fic, right? If not, I'm not complaining. I just like writing AU's.

2- The only two people I'm going to use as POV's are the main characters. If you have a request for a special POV, tell me and I'll consider. The reason for this is simple: Naruto and Sasuke are both fun to write, and I can actually get them in character.

3- _**DISCLAIMER: **_Okies, since I'm never going to really remember this again, this is my only other one. I own nothing to do with Naruto except my ideas on how it ends and this plot. And the books, but that's different.

So, I think that's all I wanted to say...oh! If anyone of you have suggestions, I'm always open. I love questions (actually, I tend to ask about ten at once...), your comments, and I love to hear suggestions (because usually they give me inspiration). I'm also open to CREATIVE criticism...but anything uncreative many times repeated and I'll get mad at you.

Finally...

_**WARNING:**__** This is now a shounen-ai pairing! That means BoyxBoy love/Yaoi! If you have a problem or are homophobic, you have been warned! I hold no responsibility for you continuing to read if you discard this warning! YOU ARE WARNED!**_

Alright, so now you may read and review when you're done. Enjoy!

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Thunder growled overhead. Darkness grew ever more as the skies began to open up. Umbrella's were opened against the onslaught of water. The wind began to howl, screaming with rage. People without protection huddled under awnings and overhangings of buildings to avoid getting soaked. 

A lone figure in black ran out in the open, not stopping like others to wait for the rain to lift. He didn't have time if he was going to make it to school by five after. His blonde hair was already copying his uniform by plastering itself to his head. He could feel the rain coming down harder, and couldn't believe it had only started a couple minutes ago. He was trying desperately not to slip and fall. Not that it was working very well, because he was still slipping actively. At least he hadn't fallen.

Maybe he shouldn't have thought that. Just as he realized he had jinxed himself, he tripped over the curb. Falling face-first onto the street, he cursed. "I won't say if my luck could get any worse, because it bloody well can't!" he screamed at nothing as he picked himself up.

He really should've watched what he said. Because his luck could get worse, and at that moment, it was doing all it could to make him late or miserable. Or both.

A car rushed by him, bouncing as it hit a pot hole. As it had been raining for some time, the pot hole was filled with water. The water, following whatever laws water follows when hit with a large, heavy force, curved up in little droplets to strike Naruto in the face. As he had been yelling at the time, the water 'magically' flew into his mouth just as he swallowed.

Naruto jumped up and screamed. "What is it with the world being so against me today! What the hell did I do to deserve this?" The blonde shook his fist emphatically at the sky, completely ignoring the fact that people began to stare at him.

Grumbling, the normally chipper senior shoved his hands into his pocket and kept trudging to his school. As much as he would have prefered staying in bed...especially with how the day was turning out. With the way it was heading now, he didn't think it would get better for a long time, if at all.

Glancing at his watch, Naruto swore loudly. "Great, now I'm late!" Picking up his pace, Naruto ignored bumping into different people and the angry cries that followed him.

**oo00oo**

Finally making it into the building, fifteen minutes after he was supposed to be there, Naruto shook the dripping rain from himself. He quite resembled a drowned rat, and the shaking like an awkward puppy didn't help the image. His hair stood up very badly, making him look worse than he did when he got up. 

Hoping that nobody would notice him just getting there, and hoping he could just make it to his locker and hide for the rest of first block, Naruto began to ghost from locker to locker.

He had almost made it to his destination when he was tapped on the shoulder from behind. He was completely unprepared for it; he leapt high into the air with a yelp and spun, balling his hands into fists and ready to strike like a serpent if the situation called for it.

He relaxed only slightly when he saw the person who caught him was his old mentor, Iruka.

The fairly young man stood in front of Naruto, tapping his foot with annoyance. His shoulder length brown hair was pulled back into a queue, revealing a well developed face. Brown eyes bore down on the young student and were accented by the dark scar running across the bridge of Iruka's nose. It was said he got the scar from a fight with an ax murderer, but nobody could prove it and Iruka wouldn't talk about it.

His outfit was very casual, well tailored navy dress pants and a simple white button up shirt. He carried a clipboard under his left arm, which was crossed under his right. His whole demeaner spoke of frustration at the boy he thought of as a son.

"Naruto, would you mind telling me just what you are doing, out of class? And tell me again, _why _weren't you here last week?"

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and hailed his teacher. "Oh, it's just you. I thought you'd be someone like Mr. Morioka. I'd be in trouble if he caught me." Without further ado, Naruto turned and began to open the his locker.

Iruka gaped at him. "You think you're just going to get away with this? Not showing up until it suits you? You'll never graduate at this rate, and think about how that'll look when you want to get into college, or even get a job!"

Naruto waved him off and finally got the annoying contraption known as a student locker open. "Come on, I'll figure out what to do when I get to that part." He quickly sidestepped, and not a moment too soon. A waterfall of books cascaded from the opened container.

Iruka closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, you can't do this again. I don't care what your excuse is; I'm not going to let you off again. I'll give you a pass and take you to class, but this is your last freebie. Alright?"

Naruto picked out the things he needed and piled everything else haphazardly back into his locker. Turning to Iruka, he gave the man a bright grin. "Alright, I promise.

* * *

Sasuke had woken up this morning from a dream he couldn't remember. He was in a cold sweat, his black silk sheets twisted around his body and his breathing coming in heavily. His eyes were opened as wide as they could go, and it took him a moment to realise that he was still in his room. 

He put a hand to his forehead and fell back onto the pillows. He hated it when he couldn't remember his dreams; it always made it seem like he was missing something, something that he needed to know. Like his life depended on it.

Glancing at the clock, Sasuke growled as he read the time. Of course it would be five in the morning. It was almost like a law written in stone that any time he woke up, it would be well before the alarm. And with his sleeping habits, Sasuke knew he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again.

Shaking off the dream and his uneasy feelings, Sasuke untangled himself from his blankets and stood. Stretching slowly, he let out a sigh as tension slowly left his body.

Looking around his room, Sasuke let his eyes roam the large area. It was one of the biggest rooms in his house, almost as large as the master bedroom. It was designed to hold four walk-in closets and about ten windows. Sasuke thought it was a little much, but with his creativity, he was able to make it more to his liking.

The first thing he had done when moving into his new place of residence was to paint the walls a deep navy color. He had converted two of his walk-ins into different rooms. One of them was redesigned into a small kitchen, complete with all the necessary components and always filled with food. Just in case he felt like locking himself in his room, then he wouldn't need to leave until he was good and ready. Another closet was converted into a bathroom, decorated in deep greens and equally as dark purples. It looked more like a dark room than anything else, and Sasuke often used it for that purpose.

Frames and frames of photos lined his wall. At least, on three of them; his fourth wall, the one that he slept near, was wall papered in pictures that he had printed out off of the internet. He had often been told that he held a slight obsession with pictures, but he really couldn't help it. He enjoyed just sitting on his bed after a particularily bad day, staring at all of the people captured in time. He had photos of ever person he had ever met, even those he really didn't like.

One of his favorite pictures also happened to be of one of the most obnoxious, over-active, idiotic people that Sasuke had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting in his elementary school days.

A tall, blonde boy was in the process of running around with his friends. When looking at the picture, one couldn't take their eyes off of the laughing boy. Even after all of the years of being in picture-format, Sasuke could still feel the happiness and joy radiating from one Naruto Hamasaki.

Of course, he didn't know he was being photographed. No, an extremely curious and young Sasuke Uchiumi had been hiding with a camera behind a tree when taking the picture. He never really liked being around people, ever since nearly all of the girls in his class decided he was the coolest person on the planet. That had gotten worse as the years passed; now he was the most popular and most wanted guy in his school. Not just his grade, his _school_.

So, in trying to get away from the girls, he had taken his camera with him when his class was released for recess. Sasuke had immediately made his way to a somewhat sheltered area and had commensed with one of his more enjoyable pastimes of people watching. He had been considering taking a picture of a couple of girls playing at jumprope when he had heard a scream from behind him.

Turning around, he had seen Naruto annoying many of his more tolerant classmates. He had just seemed so happy that he had been compelled to take a picture immediately. Naruto had been none the wiser, and Sasuke was left with a picture that was the reason for him starting both his obsessions with photos, and his picture walls.

Sasuke pulled himself from his little reverie and wrenched his eyes from that frozen moment. He refused to waste any more time thinking about it. After all, it was often the last picture he looked at before turning in at night.

Shaking his head at his behavior, Sasuke walked over to his dresser and began pulling out a very clean uniform. He tended to be a clean freak when it came to anything around him, and that was immediately shown by the immaculate cleanliness of his room. When he was frustrated or just needed to really think, and it was too late to go out and take photos of things, he would busy himself by cleaning his entire room from top to bottom. Either that, or take down all of his pictures and reorganize them yet again.

He had even gone as far as to forbid the servants from entering his room without his permission. Of course, he didn't trust any of them, so he had also bought himself a lock for his room. Only he had a key, and only he knew where the spare was hidden.

Walking to the walk-in closet turned bathroom, Sasuke shut the door and began his morning ritual.

**oo00oo**

Sasuke finished in plenty of time to eat breakfast and get out the door. He was lucky that his brother, Itachi, preferred to sleep late. It meant that Sasuke could get something to eat in peace and walk out to the car in silence. 

Itachi often tried to mold Sasuke after himself. His dear brother was a very cunning man, taking over the family business as soon as the minimum mourning period was over after their parents died. He was smart and slippery enough to turn their parents' modest enterprise into one of the largest corporations of their time. And that was after only two years of being president.

Itachi was a ruthless man. He often spoke of not letting Sasuke's anger motivate him and instead preached a calm collectiveness that Sasuke couldn't stand. When their parents had been around, Itachi had been much more bearable. He had actually spent time with his younger brother, playing and teaching him things and being an all around cool older brother. As soon as he was the head of the family, though...he had immediately decided that a six year old Sasuke had to be a perfect example of the Uchiumi family.

No longer could Sasuke show emotion, even in the midst of family and household employees. Sasuke was not allowed to laugh, smile, play, or even just be a kid. It was hard, but Sasuke had looked up to his brother still at that tender age. It was not until he had made it into middle school that he realised how much Itachi had changed.

The elder Uchiumi had glared coldly at the younger after getting a midquarter grade for Sasuke's sixth year in school. It was only a B, and, personally, Sasuke thought he had been doing pretty well. Itachi had had other ideas.

Instead of blowing up like some parents, instead of telling him softly that he could do much better, Itachi had just fixed Sasuke with that stare that he had come to be a regular recipient of. Sasuke had practically felt the biting cold that went with his brother's words. He had said "This is unacceptable. If you cannot get above such a pitiful grade, then why am I even bothering taking care of you? An Uchiumi should be able to get an A without trying, and here you are, getting B's. How shameful can one get, little brother?"

Then he had left, Sasuke staring after him with shock. After that, Sasuke had worked and worked at getting the best grades he possibly could. He split his free time between schoolwork and his one hobby he refused to give up. He aced everything presented to him in school, and his teachers praised him as becoming the next Bill Gates. He already had the money, and with his growing intelligence, why not? His brother had just looked at his perfect scores and gave Sasuke a look that said he could clearly do better.

Sasuke had done everything he could to prove his brother wrong. Somewhere, deep inside himself, he knew he still yearned for his brother's acceptance and approval. Still, with all the extra work he did, with all the pushing he put himself through, Itachi still looked down on the younger Uchiumi.

So that was part of what had turned Sasuke into an early riser. That, and hardly anyone was around anyways. It was quiet, and Sasuke was just able to sit there and let his mind wander. He didn't have to be Perfect Little Sasuke when nobody was looking. He wasn't the popular student that everyone claimed he was. He could just close his eyes and pretend he was someone like Naruto, someone who didn't have to deal with keeping up appearances and who didn't have to worry about what people thought about him.

Sasuke growled at himself and kicked a chair. It scraped across the floor and nearly fell over. Sasuke glared at his reflection in the window leading to the garage; he shouldn't have been thinking about anything he had. Now he would be in a foul mood, and it was only a week into the new school year.

Sasuke scowled and wrenched the knob open on the garage door. He slammed the offending wood behind him as he stormed over to his car and chauffeur. His driver moved to open the car door and was stopped with a glare. Sasuke reached for the obstruction himself and got in, pulling it shut with all his strength after.

His driver, Jou, winced as he got in behind the wheel. Starting up the engine, Jou slowly pulled out of the Uchiumi property and began the now familiar trek to Sasuke's school.

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End Chapter

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Any question? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


	3. Chapter III

A/N: Please, please forgive me. I've been so horrible... Not updating for nearly five months, and only having three chapters up when my other stories are finished... At least it wasn't as long as my last update was, right?

Moving on, I'll say that I've got a tiny reason why I didn't update, besides my finishing my other stories. That would be a slight writer's block, which I got rid of last night. I actually sat down and planned most of the story, from beginning to as close to the end as I could possibly get. So, now I should be able to update within a week, no problem. If not... Well, all my beloved readers can come hunt me down, hold me at knife-point, and force me to write the rest of the story to their liking. I'll even let you pick out curtains for Sasuke and Naruto!

Yeah, kind of getting wierd... But anyways, I really am trying to update more often. I just don't have the kind of restraint and strength of will as my friend Anna does! (She refuses to write more than one on-going story at a time on fanfiction... Hats off to such a great writer, Anne la Jordanie! Which reminds me, if any of you like yaoi, and/or YuGiOh, go read her stories! They are very good.)

So, yeah, I supposed I should put up another warning, eh? Right...

**WARNING:**** This story is SHOUNEN-AI, SLASH, YAOI...whatever you want to call it! Please, if you are homophobic or can't stand SasuNaru (with other minor pairings), STOP READING THIS LAST CHAPTER!**

Right, now enough of my inate chattering...I'm sure you're just dying to read what happens next!

* * *

On the way to school, it began to rain. Sasuke loved rain, especially a storming night when it seemed like nobody but himself was in his room. It would be quiet except for the raging beast in the sky, and Sasuke could just sit there staring at his pictures as flashes of lightening lit up the wall and illuminated the photographs. He would drowse, knowing that he wouldn't care if the house was struck or a tsunami was created from a flood as water kept falling from the clouded sky. 

The young man watched as water splashed onto the windows, droplets sliding down the panes and mixing with the muck and grime covering the glass. He watched as they made delicate patterns, the liquid dancing on the surface to music orchestrated by the winds that swept over the vehicle as the car sped down the road.

It didn't take but ten minutes for him to arrive at the school, and as his driver opened the door and held out an umbrella for the Uchiumi, he held back a sigh as he felt a now-familiar headache approach.

He always had a migraine by the end of the day from all of the squealing masses of girlish hormones that insisted on stalking his every move. It was annoying, it made him touchy, and he wanted nothing more than to throw every single one of their three-hour hairstyles and expensively-clad arses off of the tallest cliff known to mankind.

Sasuke smiled at the thought as he entered the school. The brunette didn't even notice when a young girl with brightly-dyed, hot pink hair snuck up behind him. It was his undoing, thinking about killing off the entire woman population at the highschool.

The girl leapt at Sasuke, wrapping her arms around his neck as she squealed her greetings. "Sasuke!" she said in her overly-obnoxious, high voice. Before Sasuke could do anything, she took her arms from him and slipped in front of him, effectively preventing his escape.

Sasuke grated his teeth and narrowed his eyes. He had good reason to; the girl, Sakura Okuno, had her hair clashing horribly with her uniform. The bright blue blazer and black skirt went well together as an outfit, but was offset by such a hideous hair color. Sasuke hated girls who dyed their hair unnatural colors. In fact, he hated it when _anyone _dyed their hair. It made him think that they were trying to pretend to be something they weren't.

Sakura was prattling on about something or another, one of the girly topics that no sane man tuned into. Sasuke wasn't paying attention, instead planning an escape route to get away from the rabid teenager in front of him.

With his mind on escape, he was able to sidestep a glomp from yet another girl coming up from behind. The girl, with bleached-blonde hair and a very buxom figure, tripped and fell into Sakura. Sasuke was glad for that, as Ino Nakamoto was nearly as annoying as the pink haired girl; possibly even more so.

Both girls fell to the ground and promptly began to catfight. Ino began to insult Sakura's wider-than-average forehead, while Sakura began to target Ino's honor. As neither girl were paying attention to him, Sasuke made his escape.

He heaved a small sigh of relief when he made it to his locker without further mishap. The combination was incredibly easy for him, and he had it open on his first attempt. Like his room, everything had its place and nothing was in there that he didn't absolutely need for classes.

He quickly found his books that he needed for his first and second block, chemistry and psychology, and shut the contraption with a snap. An echoing close followed almost immediately from across the hall, and Sasuke turned to see his friend turning to join him.

Shikamaru Arata was one of the most intelligent students in the entire district. He had a surpassing IQ of any other student in the entire grade, but was lazy as hell. The only reason he wasn't the absolute best was because he was too lazy to do both the homework and participate in the physical education classes.

He had shoulder-length brown hair that he often kept in a high tail at the back of his neck. For someone who didn't excersize unless it was critically necessary, he was incredibly fit. There was no place on his body that had excess fat, and his arms were defined slightly with muscle. He was very good-looking for a guy. The only reasons he didn't have a girlfriend was because the great Sasuke Uchiumi attended the same school, and he constantly claimed it was too bothersome for him to bother with a girlfriend.

Sasuke nodded in greeting, joining Shikamaru as he passed. "Did you do the homework?" he asked his only true friend. After all, every other person Sasuke hung out with were people he couldn't stand or were only trying to use him. He hated being used.

Shikamaru looked through half-lidded eyes as he gave Sasuke his 'I-can't-believe-you-just-asked-that' look. "It was too much work for afterschool. I didn't bother doing it, I'm already getting good enough grades as is." Even his voice carried a tone that said he would rather have telepathic abilities to relay information for him rather than having to speak it aloud- but then again, that would be bothersome as well.

Sasuke just faced forward again. He wasn't looking forward to chemistry class- the teacher was an incredibly creepy man by the name of Orochimaru Sakata. He was a very pale, snake-like being with what appeared to be slitted eyes that Sasuke _swore_ glowed in the dark. It didn't help that he also got the uneasy feeling that, if Sakata had his way, Sasuke would be his play thing.

Another boy approached them halfway to class, an annoying bloke by the name of Neji Hakugi. The boy's raven hair offset his almost-white colored eyes. Even the pupils of said eyes were lighter than normal; if you looked at him from a far enough distance, you would only see white where his eyes were supposed to be.

Sasuke couldn't stand him, he was so full of himself. He believed that he was right in everything unless someone with more power contradicted him. When that happened, he was all bowing and scraping to please that person. He was a cunning and canniving little brat. The only reason Sasuke hung out with him at all was because Neji's father was one of Itachi's most prominent clients. Hence the bastard earned the right to be around him, even if Sasuke would rather have the guy thrown off the same cliff that was the end of the massive female population.

"Uchiumi, Arata," he said in his hazy voice. He always tried to make himself sound mystical. Instead, he sounded like a stupid child playing at being a fake oracle. "Looking forward to chemistry?" he asked politely.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead glaring at Neji for all he was worth. Neji knew that Sasuke couldn't stand him and was forced to put up with him, and the boy used it to grate the ebony-haired youth for all he was worth.

Shikamaru sighed audibly. "It's such a bothersome class, I don't see why we have to take it."

Neji smirked. "You think everything is bothersome, Arata. If you had your way, the world would be at a standstill." Another thing that Sasuke hated about the teen; Neji always had a superior-than-thou attitude and was almost as ambitious as Sasuke's brother. Almost.

Sasuke sped his steps up slightly as he approached the classroom. Between the two, his creepy chem teacher was much more preferrable to an insufferable prat. He gripped the handle to the class, praying it was open, and tugged at the door.

It opened with a soft click, and Sasuke thanked whichever deity had kept it open for him as he swept into the room. Neji and Shikamaru promptly took seats on either side of him. Orochimaru was already at the front of the class, his golden-brown eyes boring at Sasuke.

The young Uchiumi stiffled a groan. He had the horrible, pitfalling feeling that the day was going to go down in a burning fireball of solar-level flames that tore open the atmosphere and set the very air afire. He rubbed his temples with annoyance, his migraine already at full throttle. A very long day, indeed.

* * *

Because Naruto was so late in getting to school, he completely missed his first block of the day. Not that he cared, of course. It wasn't like he was going to become a great chemist in the foreseeable future or something like that. He really didn't know why he was taking it. 

So, instead, Iruka dropped him off to his next class, psychology (actually, it was The Intricate Psychological Thinking of the Teenage Mind, but that was a bit too long for someone like Naruto to remember verbatum), a minute after the final bell had rung.

Iruka turned to his young student just before he walked into class. "Now Naruto, this next teacher is new here. I want your word that you won't do anything to him until he's fully warned of what you are capable of." Iruka fixed Naruto with a pointed stare.

The blonde in question nodded and said in a not-quite-there tone, "Whatever you say, I'll be careful. I know the rules." In his mind, however, Naruto was already planning a hundred little, mostly harmless pranks that he could pull to let his teacher know who was the real power in the school.

Iruka seemed to sense the wavelengths of Naruto's mind, as he added a treat to the deal while he walked away. "Oh, and Naruto. If you behave today, I'll take you out for some ramen afterschool today." He left the young teen whooping for joy over the prospect of being able to indulge in his favorite, unhealthy and incredibly salty food item.

Naruto was incredibly cheered up by that fact, and it was with a spring in his step that he walked into the classroom.

The door slid open noiselessly, so none of the ever-present glares followed Naruto into the class like it normally would. Nobody noticed the chipper adolescent until he took a seat in the back of the room; then the whispers started, but Naruto was too high on the prospect of getting ramen to bother worrying about it. Besides, they had always been whispering about him for as long as he could remember. What was a few more rumors against his amazingly awesome self anyway?

The teacher was not in the room, which explained the quickly increasing noise level. Naruto found it pretty odd that a new professor wouldn't even bother to show up on time on his first day of class- well, for meeting Naruto, at least. He had already been there for a week, so it would have been logical that he knew his way around enough already that he wouldn't get lost.

Naruto fidgeted as he waited for the teacher. Usually, as soon as class started, the stares stopped and he was able to concentrate. Because they were not stopping, as class hadn't begun yet, it was making Naruto slightly uncomfortable. To make up for it, he matched everyone's glare with a bright and sunny smile, completely throwing off the other students.

The slightly-less cheerful blonde took a moment to look at his classmates. Glancing around the room, he winced slightly.

None of his friends were in his class. And worse than that was the people that _were_ in it. Neji and Hinata Hakugi, Sakura Okuno, Ino Nakamoto, Shikamaru Arata, and worst of all, Sasuke Uchiumi. Naruto growled.

Granted, both Hinata and Shikamaru weren't very bad people. The only reason Naruto couldn't stand either of them was because Hinata would never speak up for herself when her cousin bullied her, and Shikamaru was the best friend of Sasuke Uchiumi.

The person that _really_ annoyed Naruto was Sasuke. He couldn't stand the goddamned bastard, with all of his high-and-mighty attitude and 'superior' knowledge of anything and everything. He always pushed Naruto to his limits, his rival at every turn and never leaving him alone. Sasuke always beat Naruto at everything, even gym, and it was a wonder they hadn't killed each other off ages ago. The only class Naruto had ever been in that Sasuke hadn't ruined completely for him was art class. And Naruto swore that if Sasuke was ever in that class, Naruto would put him in his place.

And it had all started with a partner project in fourth grade, when they were paired together and both wanted to be the boss.

Naruto probably should not have chosen to sit where he was, by the window. Yes, he had a pretty view of the outside world. Yes, he would not be near any of his hated enemies if the guy had a seating chart. And yes, it really was a nice spot to be able to nap and not be in the eye of the professor. But it seemed the teacher had other plans.

"Settle down and take your seats," a voice said from right behind Naruto.

The blonde, and everyone else in the classroom, jumped and stared at the adult who was casually leaning against the back wall, his left hand shoved deep into the pocket of his black slacks. He was an odd character, and Naruto could tell that right away; the teacher, whoever he was, was wearing a black turtleneck shirt. That wouldn't be so wierd, if he had bothered to fold down the neck. Instead, the soft material was covering a good half of his face. He also looked like he had not bothered to brush his hair ever. The grey locks were standing up everywhere, except for about half of his bangs, which fell over his left eye.

He smiled, his one eye closing, as he straightened. "I see we also have our missing student back. Welcome," he addressed the still stunned blonde.

Sakura was gaping as she asked, "Mr. Hatakenaka, how did you get in here?"

The entire class began to voice their agreement. After all, the door would have been noticed if it had opened, and everyone would have seen the teacher walk to the back of the classroom long before. Plus, he most _definately _hadn't been there when all of the students entered the room.

The silver haired adult just smiled and walked to the front of the room.

Naruto stared where he had been, at the now open window that was letting the rain in. The only thing creepier than having his teacher hovering over his shoulder was having him there when he had come in througha _window_. And the only thing creepier than that was, as Naruto saw when he faced the front of the classroom, that his teacher was completely dry from head to toe.

Setting down his books, the teacher addressed his class. "Most of you remember me, but after a long weekend, I'll re-introduce myself." He turned and quickly wrote his name -Kakashi Hatakenaka- on the board in a messy scrawl. Facing his class again, who had all found their seats with relative ease, he picked up where he left off.

"My name is Kakashi Hatakenaka. I am twenty-three years old, and this is my third year teaching The Intricate Psychological Thinking of the Teenage Mind here at this school." Now that Naruto saw him, Kakashi looked like the kind of person who would call his class something long and impossible to remember. "My hobbies aren't very important, but I'll tell you anyway. I like to play with people's minds-" here the entire class grimaced- "and I enjoy reading. And that's all you get for now. Let's start class."

He leaned against his desk and folded his arms in front of him. He was smiling again, and Naruto idly wondered if his face was perminantly fixed in that expression.

Kakashi apparently couldn't wait any longer to reveal his ultimate, devious plan. "Alright, you're all taking this class because you want to know about the human mind. Therefore, you are getting your first project assigned today." The entire class groaned, and one or two people even slammed their heads onto their desks. Kakashi continued gleefully. "The project is going to be done almost entirely out of school, so you will have to get together with your partner- yes, you have to work with someone else for a change- and spend time at each other's house. Also, your partner may not necessarily be in this class. They could be from a different hour."

Sakura raised her hand. Kakashi nodded to her, and the bubbly girl spoke in a somewhat whining voice. "But, Mr. Hatakenaka, what _is _the project?"

Kakashi straightened and pointed a finger at the ceiling. "That, my dear, is what I am getting to." Sakura flushed. Whether from embarassment or from being called dear by an incredibly good-looking teacher, Naruto didn't know. Kakashi was speaking again, so Naruto tuned into his words. "At the end of the quarter, or before if I feel particularily nasty, you will be given a question. One, single question. Since psychology is the study of the mind, you will write down your answer to the question _and _your partner's question."

He paused, and Naruto wondered what he meant. Answering a single question? It sounded pretty easy. Maybe he was right to choose this class after all. Most of the other students seemed to agree with him, since they began to break out into smiles.

Kakashi decided to deflate them before they got too hopeful. "The catch is," at those words all of the smiles disappeared, "if you don't have your answer exactly matching the other person's, you fail." The class was silent, but Kakashi wasn't finished. "And you don't just fail this test. You fail. The. Entire. Course." He waited for the words to sink in.

Naruto was one of the first people to shout his outrage. "What the hell do you mean, we fail the course?" Naruto was on his feet, pointing at his teacher with an accusing finger. "That's not fair! You can't possibly do that. It's gotta be illegal!"

For once, most of the students agreed with Naruto. They voiced their protests, but apparently all of the outraged words fell onto deaf ears. Kakashi just stood there, his arms folded again, leaning against the desk once more, that annoying smile on his face. He waited until the class had worn themselves out, and then told them the bitter truth.

"But it isn't illegal. I have the Board of Education's permission to run this project. And it was unanimous, so there's nothing you can possibly do." All of the students, with the exception of two, had their mouths hanging open. "Now, I will assign you your partners, and we can continue with this, hm?"

The class couldn't protest against the highest possible power in the education community, so they all resigned themselves to their fates. Kakashi pulled out a crisp sheet of paper with names scrawled all over it, and began to read off the partnerings.

The first surprise came when he read off the third group. "Sakura," the twenty-three year old began, "you will be paired with someone from another one of my classes. Your partner is Lee Sai." It was a good thing that Sakura didn't know who that was yet, as Kakashi was able to continue listing off people, but Naruto did. He found it hilarious.

Lee Sai was a good friend of his. A fellow outcast, Lee had black hair that was in the old-school, bowl-cut style. Normally that wouldn't be so back, but he also had very dark eyelashes. They made it look like he was wearing mascara, which had earned him a lot of teasing in the past. He was also the proud owner of one of the largest set of eyebrows known to mankind.

Naruto wished he could be there when Sakura met Lee...

Another pair was being read off, and again, it didn't raise a lot of fuss. Hinata and Kiba Ishizuka were paired with each other, and Naruto thought that the fairly rowdy, brunette dog-lover would become calmer if he worked with the shy Hakugi. The next pair caused minimal fuss, Ino just complaining loudly when she was paired with Shikamaru instead of Sasuke.

The first group to hold up Kakashi's reading was when Neji's partnership was announced.

"Neji Hakugi," Kakashi began, "will be paired outside of this class with Gaara Araya."

Neji blew up. "That stoic freak?" he cried. "There's no way in hell I'm working with that annoying asshole from hell. He'll kill me, I swear he will!" Neji was standing, hands fisted on his desk and trembling.

Naruto smirked. He had no doubt that Gaara would react any differently. Well, on the inside, at least. On the outside he would just appear to be the same cold, red-headed, semi-goth that he always was. It helped that Naruto had been friends with the youth so long that his cold demeaner didn't effect the sunny blonde anymore.

Kakashi just shook his head. "Now, now. I'm sure you two will get along just fine. Besides, you should think of this as a great challenge that you have to pass." Neji's mouth snapped shut and he sat with a glower as Kakashi picked up where he left off.

The list was getting far down, and Naruto had yet to hear his name. His teacher seemed determined to read his name last, his and Sasuke's. Naruto paused in his thinking to glare at the brunette's head, then contined his train of thought. If Kakashi didn't read off his name soon...was he paired with someone from a different class, he wondered?

"And, finally, we have Sasuke Uchiumi with Naruto Hamasaki."

Naruto snapped back to reality with a jerk and his eyes widened. He wasn't the only one to be surprised, since the entire female population decided to protest as well.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. The elder boy was glaring back at him coldly, and Naruto matched it before he stood and began to add his voice to the crowd. "Hatakenaka, you can't pair me with that bastard? I hate him, he'll never get anything done!"

Sasuke obviously heard that remark, for he shouted back to Naruto. "_I'll_ never get anything done? This is coming from the same idiot who is one of the worst students in school, is it? It's not like I want to work with you, either."

Naruto bristled. "Some of us actually _work _for a grade, even if it isn't the best." That hit a sore spot with Sasuke, and Naruto crowed with victory inside his head. "I bet you pay off everyone who crosses your path, asshole!"

They contined to bicker back and forth, some of the students jumping in when Naruto got particularily nasty. Kakashi watched it all play out like a dramatic soap opera until the bell rang. At that precious signal, he picked up his books and left without anyone being the wiser.

It was only when both Naruto and Sasuke looked towards the front of the room, only to see the conspicuously missing professor, that they realised they would have to work together. Neither of them were looking forward to the project.

* * *

End Chapter

* * *

Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


	4. Chapter IV

A/N: Hey, I've got another one! I'm on a roll, getting so many chapters out in such a short time. Especially when I've got school, home life, and two other stories I'm working on. Hooray for me!

Well, just so everyone knows, I'm writing this in HTML coding on a crappy computer, so if I make mistakes, I apologize. I would love for them to be pointed out, and if you do, I'll make sure to thank you and fix them as soon as I possibly can.

Since I'm also in class, and I want to get this up, and the bell is about to ring...I'm going to shut up and let you read.

* * *

The day had gone quickly downhill for Naruto after his psychology class.

His third block was also shared with the bastard known as Sasuke Uchiumi, and to make things worse, it was history. With a professor that, for all intents and purposes, had it in for the blonde.

It didn't help that when lunch came around, Naruto discovered that his account was completely empty. The lunch lady wouldn't even let him get off this once with a free meal, even if he promised to pay her back later. And that wasn't the half of it!

With a groan and a whimper, Naruto sat in one of the farthest tables in the lunchroom. It was nearly the exact opposite the doors, and one that Naruto had occupied with his small group of friends since he had been at the high school. He sat on the edge of his chair, his head facedown on his arms. It didn't take long for his friends to join him.

Two trays were set down as three people took seats around the circular piece of furniture. Naruto looked up slowly, meeting the eyes of his three good buddies.

Kiba, with his wild brown hair and insane disposition, was already wolfing down his meal. Naruto pouted, watching the young man eat with rapid speed, and his mouth started to water.

"What's your problem?" asked the boy sitting on his other side, Lee. Lee was calmly preparing to eat his meal, complete with tucking a napkin into his shirt. It didn't take long for him to begin chowing down as well, if in a more clean and proper manner.

Naruto whined. "I'm having the absolute most worst day of my life!" he cried, letting his head fall back to the table with a bang. His two friends stopped their scarfing and looked at their friend with questioning looks.

Naruto held up a hand and began to count off everything that had gone wrong. "First off, I wake up to a nightmare. Then, I have to eat a cold breakfast because my microwave died last night. Then, I'm late because I ate, and it begins to rain on my way to school. On my way, some jerk in a car is going so fast that the muddy street water gets all over my clothes!"

By now, he was sitting up and glaring at his open hand. "Then, when I finally get to class, I find out that none of you are in it. Instead, all of those rich brats are there. Then my teacher scared the shit out of me when he appears out of nowhere behind me, and decides to put me in a partner project with Sasuke, the bastard!"

Naruto was breathing heavily, working himself into a frenzy. "And, to top it all off, my history teacher hates me, I don't have any lunch money, and they're serving _ramen_ for lunch! The one day I get the meal I petitioned for my entire schooling career, and I can't even get it!" His head fell back to the table with a thud.

Gaara, quiet until then, spoke up. "That's your problem. It could be a lot worse, you know."

Naruto shot his friend a glare from the tabletop. "I don't see how. The only way that can happen is if I find out that Sasuke is in my art class. That'll just make my day," he growled.

Kiba shifted. "You know, this is all your fault for saying last year that you wouldn't have anything go wrong. You jinxes yourself, you know." He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat once again.

Naruto stared at the youth. "You know, at least I don't have your partner. I'd never get anything done that way," he pointed out.

Kiba, who, along with Lee, hadn't had his psychology class, glanced up. "Partner? We have a partner project?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Weren't you listening to a word I said? _Yes_, we have a partner project. Your partner is Hinata," he added as an afterthought.

Naruto watched in amusement as his friend blushed a pretty shade of red. He was fully aware that Kiba had an insane crush on the female Hakugi, and loved to tease him about it. A lot of times Lee and Gaara joined in as well, and this time was no exception for the bushy-browed teen. Gaara just stayed silent.

"Aw, come on, Kiba!" Lee exclaimed. "Now is your chance for you to strike out and claim your precious love for your own! Sweep her off her feet, make her feel so incredible that she doesn't want to look at another man for as long as she lives! You know you have the courage to do it, all it takes is--"

"Lee is partnered with Sakura," Naruto told Gaara casually.

Lee's speech came to a screeching halt, and the teen's eyes widened considerably. "You mean, my precious flower, the love of my life, the brightest star in the entire galaxy, is going to work with me on a project?" Disbelief coated his voice.

Naruto nodded, crossing his arms. "Yup, and she doesn't even know who the hell you are," he said solomnly.

Lee's face froze, and it was all Naruto could so not to crack up right then and there. Of course, the effort was ruined as soon as Lee cried out and he let his head flop back.

Gaara had a smirk on his face. Naruto decided that, seeing as he had already mentioned everyone else's partner, he'd let slip Gaara's as well. The red-head must have read Naruto's mind, as he immediately gave his sunny friend the deadliest glare he had in his artillary.

It wasn't enough to faze Naruto, who had been on the recieving end of that particular look more times than he could count. He completely ignored it, and instead spoke to the other two brunette's, who immediately tuned into him. "Yeah, but that's not nearly as bad as Gaara. He got paired with..." Naruto winced as Gaara kicked him under the table.

Naruto glared at the adolescent across from him. "What was that for?" he accused loudly.

If he had been any other person, Gaara would be growling. However, he was too controlled to do something as open as growl. "Who gave you the right to tell them who my partner is? If I want them to know, I'll let them know."

Naruto rubbed his leg, muttering darkly. "It's not my fault you got paired with Neji..." He smirked when Lee heared.

Lee, never one to be a quiet soul, was gaping. "You got paired with Neji?"

Kiba roared with laughter, nearly spitting out his mouthfull of ramen. "You got Hakugi? Oh, that's rich!" Kiba clutched at his sides.

Gaara fixed Naruto with a death glare. "Hamasaki, you are dead," he said in a deadly tone.

Naruto gulped and quickly rose from his seat. "Um, hey, I just remembered something I forgot to do..." He backed up slowly. Nearly tripping when Gaara stood up menacingly, he turned around and fled with a laugh. "Good luck with your _parnter_!" he called over his shoulder as he fled the room.

* * *

Across the lunchroom, Sasuke watched Naruto flee with a peircing gaze. Not that he would ever admit it, but sometimes Sasuke wished he could be sitting over with Naruto and his friends. It looked a lot more enjoyable than where he sat, surrounded by chittering girls that wouldn't shut up. 

Rubbing his forehead, Sasuke wished he had something for his headache. It was killing him, pounding like the bass drum in a marching band. It had settled right behind his eyes sometime during History class.

The young brunette wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep all day. Or, better yet, to take his camera out and get some more pictures to plaster on his wall. It had been a while since he had done that, and he needed some more to switch with a few photos that were getting out of date...

"Hey, Sasuke! How about you come with me after school and we go to that new restaurant they just opened, hm?" Sakura was clinging to his arm, regardless of the cold glare Sasuke fixed her with. She tried batting her eyes suggestively, but came off as looking rather pathetic to the young Uchiumi.

"How about you let go of my arm and leave me alone for once?" he asked. He pulled his arm out of her grasp and, standing, left the entire squabble of women.

They all tried calling him back, but he ignored them and walked faster. He wasn't leaving any friends behind- Shikamaru was somewhere other than the lunchroom, probably sleeping in the shade of a nice tree somewhere- so it didn't bother him if he didn't acknowledge any of them.

Walking quickly, Sasuke turned the corner and promptly ran into the one person who could have made his day even worse. Falling back, he hit the wall and fixed Naruto with a glare.

Naruto, for his own part, had been knocked from behind and was currently picking himself up from the ground. Looking up, he immediately spotted Sasuke, and just as soon as he did his anger peaked. "What the hell was that for, running into me from behind? Are you blind or something, you bastard?"

Sasuke didn't want to deal with Naruto. He had a headache, his day was becoming increasingly worse, and now he had to deal with someone who he couldn't stand. "I didn't run into you, dobe. You were standing right at the corner, so that anyone who walked down this hallway would have knocked you down. Idiot," he muttered as he straightened.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't! I was at my locker, and you ran into me on purpose!" He balled his hands into fists and raised them in front of himself defensivly.

Sasuke's eye began to twitch, a sure sign that he was in one of three moods: annoyed, furious, or flustered. At the moment, either of the former two emotions could have been the cause of his eye twitching.

Sasuke tried to calm down. Not only was it an embarassing motion that he had no control over, but he was an Uchiumi. And as one of a proud clan, he had to maintain appearances. That meant he was entirely calm and collected, had complete control over his emotions.

It didn't help that Naruto was the only person Sasuke knew of who could throw the young brunette's caution to the wind, just by existing. "Do you seriously believe that I would do something like that, when I could have just as easily had one of the school girls do the same thing instead?"

Naruto cast his mind out for something to say. He let his eyes wander, and they immediate latched on to the only movement in front of him- Sasuke's eye. Raising an eyebrow, Naruto asked "What's wrong with your eye?"

It was an innocent enough question, according to the young blonde, but Sasuke just brushed past him. Naruto crossed his arms, shouting something insulting at his retreating back, but Sasuke ignored it.

To have Naruto discover something as embarassing as his eye...! Sasuke really wished he could have just stayed in bed.

* * *

Fourth block rolled around and went smoothly for Naruto. It was one of his best subjects, language arts, taught by his favorite professor, Iruka. Naruto made sure he was on his best behavior, and not even having Sasuke in his class (again) could pull Naruto's brightening mood down. 

By the time Naruto was in his fifth block, gym, he was ready to face anything. He only had one block left, sixth block, before he could leave and have Iruka take him out for ramen. Plus, it helped that his last class was his favorite one, with a teacher who didn't _quite_ hate him.

In the locker room, he was hailed by Lee. "Naruto, we meet again!" Lee waved and stopped in front of Naruto, who was changing into his gym uniform. Lee, always a stickler for being on time, was already changed and ready to go. "Can you believe we both have gym, under Mr. Mitani?" Lee was practically bouncing with joy.

Naruto had no idea who he was talking about. It must have been another new teacher, and Lee must have attatched himself right to the man as soon as he found out about him. Otherwise Naruto would have heard about him a lot sooner.

Stuffing his feet into his old, beat up pair of sneakers, Naruto joined his friend in exiting the locker room. "So..." Naruto began. "What is this Mitani guy like?"

Lee's eyes brightened, and he began to ramble on about their new gym teacher. Apparently the guy was a lot like Lee, or Lee was a lot like the guy. Also, according to Lee, they had the same taste in fashion. Naruto shuddered at the thought, an image of a much taller and muscular Lee entering his mind.

He wasn't that far off, either.

Naruto had been spacing out Lee's rambling , which probably wasn't very wise of him. He didn't hear the odd teen stop his rant, nor did he hear the hush that fell over the crowd. Then, for the second time that day, a teacher decided to scare the living daylights out of him by appearing over his shoulder.

"Why, hello there, young man!" The voice said.

Much to the amusement of the other students, Naruto gave a yelp and jumped. He couldn't catch himself, so he ended up falling down. Scrambling back, he pointed at the man.

Just like he had thought, this man was a much older version of Lee. The same bowl-cut black hair, the same beady black eyes...even the same eyebrows! Naruto shuddered. He never thought he'd see the day when there would be someone who had the same _eyebrows_ as his friend.

Angrily, Naruto shouted "Where the hell did you come from? And what's with all the teachers deciding to pop up magically behind me?"

Mr. Mitani chuckled. "I'm sorry, lad!" Straightening a white tee with a tutle in the center, he hiked up his navy shorts and brightened his smile...if it were at all possible. His teeth practically glinted in the dim lighting of the gym. Making a thumbs up, he said "My name is Gai Mitani, and I am going to be one of the guiding hands to lead you from your flame of youth into a blossoming and fiery young adult. Under my tuition, no child here will be left to stuggle in their winter of discontent!" He struck an odd pose after that, something like a cross between a sitcom ending pose and a good-guy stance. Only Lee was cheering on the young teacher.

As the rest of the class groaned, Naruto stood and began brushing off himself. He walked over to the far wall, ignoring the teacher, who was talking about how they were going to begin playing dodgeball and would split up into two teams, and the winning team would get a special treat.

It was only after he was leaning against the wall, that he realised he was once again next to Sasuke. Instead of fighting with him, he decided that he would ignore the youth and instead stared blankly ahead.

Sasuke spoke up. "What are we going to do about the project?" he asked. "Frankly, I don't want to take the class and fail at the end." He crossed his arms, leaning against the edge of the bleachers.

Naruto pursed his lips. "I don't intend on failing either, but it's not like I want to get to know a stuck up prick like you," he commented.

Sasuke practically ground his teeth in frustration. "You think I want to work with you?" Taking a calming breath, he reigned in his temper. "Look, neither of us want to work with each other. However, we have to do this project if we want to pass. And neither of us want to fail, either, so we need to work together. Now, do you want to come over to my house, should I go to yours, or do we meet somewhere? I'm not going to fail this class."

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "What makes you think I want you at my house? Or that I want to go to yours?"

Sasuke straightened. "That's why I'm giving you a choice, idiot."

Naruto stiffened. "Fine, then we'll go to _your_ house if you're so adament. Now leave me alone and don't talk to me."

Sasuke watched Naruto go. He didn't want the guy over at his house, but it was much more preferrable than having to walk around with him in public. That, and to going to the dimwit's house.

Sasuke ignored the teacher, who was beckoning him to join in the team selection, and slid to the ground. He decided that gym was a good class to sit around in, and so he sat there for the rest of the period while he watched Naruto get pummeled with dodgeballs.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review! 


	5. Chapter V

A/N: Alright, I've got this one down. Next chapter should be fun, because I get to try to figure out what they're going to do. Maybe I should bring in Sasu's brother...? Any wishes either way?

What about pairings? Are there any people who you readers would like to see get together? I'd love some feedback, since I'm trying to make this reader-friendly (meaning I want to make sure to take your opinion into consideration). How about some situations you want me to attempt to write?

I'm glad some people are still reading this story, even if it isn't popular and it IS an AU reincarnation one. I'm having fun writing it (as long as I don't get writer's block), so I'll probably keep writing this even if people never look at it again. I'll know it's there, and I'll eventually go read it after I've finished posting it.

Um...yeah, it's a bit short (should I start making chapters longer? If I do, it'll take me longer to update...but let me know!), but I had a place to stop and nothing to write in between other than this scene. I'm sure you'll figure out who is in the painting, as it's pretty obvious. To all but Naruto, that is.

I do have some terms in here that may or may not be known, so if you have questions on it, just ask. Also, I'm not sure if I'm getting people in character, so let me know if I'm murdering someones personality. Also, I really do want your opinion on things. Even if you don't want to review and just want to send me a message, I'd appreciate it a lot. My email (and this is the ONLY time I will post it in this story!) is shortygal jelly . toast . net (without the spaces). If you do email me, write 'Best Friend' as the subject, since that's the song I'm listening to right now and I'll know where it's from.

Enough rambling, eh?

**_WARNING: This is a shounen-ai/Yaoi/Slasher fic, SASUNARU pairing! If you don't like Sasuke with Naruto, or if you are homophobic, too bad! Stop reading and leave us fangirls to our stories!_**

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Sixth block. The all powerful, all glorious, final block of the entire school day. Normal students looked forward to it eagerly. Unusual students wept when it rolled around. The mother of all other blocks, it was made even better for Naruto because it was his favorite class ever. 

Art class. Plain and simple. Where else could you not be required to have any talent whatsoever, and pass? And if you had even an iota of natural talent for the subject, you passed practically everything.

So it was with through-the-roof spirits that Naruto went to his final class, under Mr. Morioka. He was looking forward to the class; it was the only regret he had about missing the first, dead week. On the other hand, he worked well under pressure. They would have already finished their first assignment by now, and so Naruto got to play catch-up for a while. He smiled in anticipation.

Walking into the room, he was greeted by the smell of oil paint and charcoal. He could even detect a hint of chalk dust in the air. The room he walked into appeared disorganized at first glance. Things looked to be just scattered about in no random order, until you got a closer look. Then you would see that even if the tables had paint stains, even if charcoal and chalk dust drifted over the tiled floor, everything had its proper place.

Naruto was the first person in the room. His fifth class was nearly next door, and he didn't even bother to stop at his locker. He never needed to, since his bag was small enough to fit under his stool.

Mr. Morioka looked up from his papers, his cold face melting a bit at the sight of one of his favorite students. His eyes were dark, such a dark shade that Naruto had yet to figure out what color they were. And that was with Naruto being his pupil for over four years. Shaking hs head a bit at something he had just read, his dark hair shifting with the movement, he said "Ah, Naruto. I was wondering when you'd appear. You're behind."

Being about a head taller than the blonde, Mr. Morioka needed to look down just a bit farther for Naruto. Of course, he was tall to begin with, so he was constantly looking down on others. Both literally and figurativly.

Naruto smiled. "Do I have the same spot as usual?" he asked, already moving towards one of the front window seats.

"Of course." Mr. Morioka turned back to his papers, grumbling under his breath. Naruto caught "boy", "late" and "toothpicks". He wondered what his teacher was talking about.

His question was answered as soon as he put his books under his chair. The door opened and the strangest girl entered the room. She had some of the longest hair he had ever seen, ebony and reaching below her waist. Her face was incredibly soft, appearing like it was always ready to break open into a smile. She also had the softest brown eyes Naruto had ever come across. She was most definately new; Naruto would have remembered a pretty face like hers.

Shuffling into the room wearing a loose pair of jeans and a paint-stained white shirt, she was saying "Mr. Zabuza, they said that they don't have any more Pthalo blue and won't for a good week." She turned as Zabuza began to curse, and noticed the 'new' student. "Oh! Who are you?" she asked.

Naruto smiled. "My name is Naruto, and I could ask you the same question."

The girl smiled. "My name is Haku, and I'm from the artist university learning to be an art teacher from Mr. Zabuza." She walked over to Naruto and shook his hand, her grip firm and definate. "I'm increadibly please to meet you, you don't know how much Mr. Zabuza talks about you."

Naruto flushed with the praise, then smiled in answer. "Nice to meet you as well, Haku. I hope you like art as much as I do, to be working with Morioka. He's one of the best teachers that a student could have!"

Zabuza looked up, having just been angrily scribbling a note. "Haku, will you watch the class for a while when the bell rings? I need to go yell at someone." Haku nodded, and Zabuza continued. "Naruto needs to start with last week's assignment, and the rest of the students can continue from yesterday." With that, he swept out of the room with a purpose.

Haku moved to sit behind his desk, in an old rolling chair that liked to groan with every move. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a toothpick and began to twirl it with her fingers. Addressing Naruto, she began to explain the assignment. "Alright, so this is what you get to do. You make seven layouts for a painting that is from one of your dreams. Mr. Zabuza will approve the one for your canvas, but the sketches need to be done soon. That's it," she said cheerfully.

Naruto nodded and got to work, pulling out a very full and very used sketch book. He also took out a chewed up pencil, then began to sketch ideas.

He could always remember his dreams, but there was one slight problem. Each of the people in his dreams looked suspiciously like another person in his school. It was incredibly wierd.

For example, the sketch he was working on was one of a person who looked like Gaara. Only, this boy wore loose clothing and carried a gourd on his back, not to mention the obvious tattoo of 'love' on his forehead written in kanji. His black sandals were sticking to a branch, on which he was hanging upside down on.

The image was one from a dream Naruto had had after meeting a young, red-headed boy called Gaara. Naruto had been on the playground when he was younger, running under the monkey bars, when Gaara had swung down in front of and scared him. He had been hanging upside down by his knees on the exact center bar.

And then, that night, the dreams came. They weren't just the scene of the Gaara look alike hanging upside down, either; there had been on scene where the imposter had been fighting both Sasuke and Lee. It was really wierd.

For some reason that Naruto couldn't comprehend, whenever he had an 'imposter' dream, it was always after meeting someone new. Like when he had seen Shikamaru sleeping on a hill once, in the shade. His dream had been a look alike freezing people by standing on their shadow, working with an imposter Ino and a different kid.

And then there was the dream after he had seen Sakura for the first time; actually, it should have been called a series of dreams. After seeing the pink-haired girl, he had had odd dreams of an alternate Sakura for near a year.

But that wasn't anything to his dreams about Sasuke. He knew it would have sounded wierd to anyone who didn't see what he saw, but he dreamt about the annoying brunette often. He had met the real one during a project, and had immediately hated him from the get-go. But then, when he had fallen asleep, he had had a dream of meeting a different Sasuke. His relationship with the other boy had been basically the same as in real life, unlike some of his other ones (like he had been fighting Gaara in one of his dreams, but they were great friends in real life).

He had thought they were done when, after the first dream, they hadn't continued. He thought he was finished with dreams of Sasuke for the rest of his life, but then, nearly a month later, after seeing Sasuke with his brother on the street, he had had another dream. It had been alternate-Sasuke fighting with an alternate-brother, and both looked like they would rip out each other's throats gladly.

Shaking his head, Naruto heard the door open. Looking over, his jaw nearly dropped. But it wasn't like he was expecting his luck to pick up suddenly, with the way his day had been going.

"Oh, great," he muttered. Sasuke was walking into the room, a horde of girls at either side. Naruto darkly turned back to his drawings.

A stroke of good luck had Sasuke sitting on the opposite side of the room. The rest of the students fanned out from his seat, like a ripple in the water, Sasuke being the starting point. It was kind of sad, really.

Haku saw the students enter, and stood. "Alright, Mr. Zabuza is out for the moment, so I've got you guys for now." Everyone quieted down as the girl spoke. "Your task today is to get as far with your drawing as possible, and then we'll move it to canvas if you finish early." She gestured to the back of the room, where the supplies were kept. "Pastel and chalk are in the back, you know where you stashed your drawings, and you know the assignment. Don't waste time!" she added.

Stools scraping across the floor filled the room as students began to comply. Naruto concentrated on his current drawing, the seventh, one of a shadowed person crouching. Above the person were a pair of eyes, red in color, with two pinwheel-type object in each eye. It was an image that Naruto thought would be quite interesting to look at, especially since he couldn't tell which imposter was in the picture.

The last line drawn, Naruto set down his pencil and looked up. "Hey, Haku," he called. Haku looked up in question. "What do I do when I'm done if Morioka isn't here?" he asked.

Haku walked over. "Let me see what you have." The youth picked up the paper with her delicate hands, scanning the page. Her eyebrows raised in surprise, obviously never having seen one of Naruto's 'sketches' before. They should have been called drawings instead, since even the blonde's rough sketching had a finished feel about them.

Her eyes passed over the fours sketches of Gaara, the one that he had of Shikamaru, a third (one of Hinata and Neji fighting in an arena, their eyes completely white with veins around them), and then the wheel-eyed one.

Haku set the paper on the desk and pointed to the last one. "I think that Mr. Zabuza would agree with me that this would be the best painting, especially if you can mix enough dark colors to somehow give the impression of the clothing and other details."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "I was going to do this one anyways. It's so cool, especially the shadows and the eyes."

Haku crossed her arms. "Who is it? Do you know?" A shake of the head answered her. "Ah well, that's too bad. You're just going to have to come up with a really interesting title for this, then." She smiled and walked over to check on the other students.

Naruto sat there, staring at the sketch for a while. He didn't know why, but whenever he remembered the image he felt wierd. Like he was flying, his stomach doing little flips and his heart gaining speed as it, too, reacted. He didn't even know who it was, but the feeling came packaged with the image. It was insane, getting excited over a dumb dream.

The door opened once again, and Zabuza walked into the classroom. Stormed would have been the better term, as he was in a fury. The rest of the class shrank back ever so slightly in the wake of his temper; all except Naruto. He was used to the professor's odd mood swings.

Haku went over to talk with him for a moment, then the teacher walked over to Naruto. Looking down at his sketches, his reaction was along the lines of Haku's.

"This is fairly impressive, Naruto," he said, leaning on his hands.

Naruto smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "I have a lot of wierd dreams like these, and they get a lot wierder."

Zabuza nodded. "Go ahead and start to get your painting ready. There are canvases in the back, but you'll need to pay for one." It was the same routine for the two. Zabuza would tell Naruto that he could have a canvas to paint on (as long as he paid for it), Naruto would agree and run back to snag the best one for his project, and they would both move on. They had been doing the same thing for a long time.

Naruto was going to pick out the largest canvas he could find to work on, thinking that the larger it was, the more impressive it would be. However, as he was digging through the stacks of wood and fabric, he came across something that, as soon as he laid eyes on it, he knew it would be perfect.

It was not as big as he would have liked- actually, it wasn't very large at all- but Naruto was happy with it. It was a two foot square that used thick peices of wood. The frame would make the pitcure stick out farther on the wall, drawing nearly as much attention to it as a gigantic painting would have.

At his desk, holding his pencil delicately, he began to draw his layout with intense concentration.

* * *

By the time the final bell rang, Naruto was full of paint and had finished his underpainting. The base colors down, he was looking forward to being able to work on the details during his next art class. 

Everyone else was cleaned up and out the door by the time Naruto put his canvas into the drying rack along the right wall. He prefered it that way; he could clean up his area in relative peace, instead of everyone jostling for the sink to wash their hands, or rushing to put their supplies away before they were the last ones out the door. It was like some sort of twisted race or something.

Zabuza had left just before class let out to do a bit more yelling at the, as he called them, 'idiot amateurs who couldn't follow directions' down in the office. Haku was doing some tidying up in the room, collecting materials that had gotten away from the students without anyone's knowledge.

Naruto went back to the sink and began to wash his brushes. He hadn't used as many as he did when he worked on the final layers, but it was still time consuming to wash out each of the brushes using soap and water and scrubbing the art utensils with the palm of his hand. He was washing off his final brush when Haku spoke up.

"You're a really fast artist. Mr. Zabuza has also told me that you are one of the most talented students he has ever seen." Haku was putting away peices of chalk, organizing them so that each pallet of dyed dust had one of each shade of color. Her hands were a collage of reds, blues, yellows and everything in between.

Naruto laughed as he put his brushes with the others in a container, bristles up. "You have to be pretty good as well, in order to go to an art college. That's got to be saying something." Walking over to the sink, he began to free his hands of paint. "What kind of stuff do you draw and paint?"

Haku, finished sorting the colors, began to stack the boxes that held the chalk. "I like to paint war scenes, and draw cars. Among other things."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Those are wierd things for a girl to paint," he stated.

Haku burst out laughing. She was using the counter she was standing at to help her stand up. Naruto wondered what her problem was, since he didn't _think _he said anything funny.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked, drying his hands. He tossed the used paper towel into the large trashbin under the sink.

Haku calmed down, but a smile still graced her face. "I figured you'd say something like that. Everyone does." She straightened. "Naruto, there's one problem with your statement. I'm a guy."

Naruto's eyes widened. Haku, a boy? But...he looked so feminine! The long hair, the delicate figure... Naruto's eyes flicked to Haku's chest and noticed a distinct lack of breasts which he had not noticed before. "Oh..." he said faintly, his cheeks glowing red as he realised his embarrassing mistake.

Haku shook his head, walking away. "Don't worry. Like I said, everyone thinks I'm a girl." Leaving the room, he called over his shoulder, "I'll see you tomorrow," before he was gone.

Naruto walked over to his desk, grabbing his bag. His face was still red, of that he had no doubt. He could feel it burning.

Following the girl-turned-boy out the door, he groaned as he realised he couldn't go home at the moment, like he had planned to. No, he had to go work on that stupid project, with the bastard called Sasuke, right away after school. And not only that, he had to go to his _house_.

He felt the incredible urge to begin banging his head against the brick building.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


	6. Chapter VI

A/N: Well, at least I got a chapter out, even if it IS short and WAS written in HTML mostly. That's good at least, isn't it?

Right, well, what's new, eh? This chapter ended really badly, I think, so I might have to go back and rewrite it (my sister says otherwise). If I do, I'll tell you in my next Author's note. But, hey, good news is that I've got the next one done! Mostly...well, the entire thing is planned out, it just needs to be typed.

Um...yeah, I'm a curious person by nature, so I was wondering...**To my readers: Are you a guy or a girl?** I'm sorry, I'm just curious to see whether or not any of my readers are guys. I only know one guy who likes yaoi, so...

Also, **Pairing suggestions are a plus!** I've only got the main one, and one side pairing, so are there any others you would like?

Finally, my **next update** won't be until next weekend (not the one coming up) at the earliest. Unless I get stuck on all my other stories, but don't count on it. And after that...well, I'll get there when I get there. But don't expect the next update for a good ten, maybe twelve days. Sorry!

Anyways, this is a long ramble...maybe I'm trying to make up for a short chapter? Are there any who read this even?

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Around the corner, down the hall, past the front doors and out of the school; a dreaded path for Naruto when Sasuke was the person waiting at the end of the road. The young Uchiumi had told him to meet outside the main doors directly after school. So, even though he was grumbling the entire way, Naruto was doing what he was told.

It irked him that the annoying brunette wouldn't give Naruto a chance to suggest something himself. Then again, he _had _had a chance to get the bastard over to his house...

Naruto's line of thought stopped. "That sounded wrong on so many levels," he shuddered. He hadn't meant it like that. The guy was an annoying prick! Plus, there was that major factor that _he_, at least, was straight.

Hefting his handheld school bag, he sighed. His friends had already gone for home. Nobody would be there to help him out stall for time. Lee was going to help his dad work on their house. Kiba had been volunteering at the local animal shelter for years and was heading straight there after school. Gaara was still pissed off at him, shooting glares at the blonde whenever they had passed in the halls.

Gaara in a bad mood was _not_ something Naruto wanted to deal with. He didn't have a death wish, and no matter how much he despised Sasuke, the guy was the preferred company when it came to a choice between pissed-off red head and annoying bastard.

Outside, there was no sign of Sasuke. There were hardly any people left in the wrap-around drive the school was known for. A few stragglers were making their ways home, talking in large packs of teenage hormones raging on unfair teachers, raving about the latest fashion, or just plain complaining about life and everything related to it.

Naruto was the only student just standing there like an idiot. There was nothing around for him to sit on, and if he were to lean against the wall, the brush, shrubbery and trees would be blocking his view of the drive. He didn't want to be left there, having to walk all the way back home after waiting for who knew how long like a fool.

Why, oh, _why _was he being dragged into this? _Right, _he thought, _I was assigned this demented and crazed psychology teacher that likes to pop out of nowhere and assign half-assed projects out of the blue. Lucky me._

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Naruto couldn't tell, he had no more time for further reflection on how messed up his day was. And life, and future and...well, everything. He should have just stayed in bed.

A long and sleek black car pulled around the circular drive, between the school and a small flora-filled island, to pull up and stop in front of Naruto. Blinking in confusion, the blonde watched as the window rolled down in front of him and Sasuke's scowling face appeared. The mirrors were obviously mirrored- there hadn't even been a silhouette to show that anyone had been in the back seat.

"Get in, idiot. I don't want to be seen with you more than absolutely necessary." The window rolled itself back up, causing Naruto to snap out of his funk.

Naruto growled and stepped forward to open the door. As he had seen in the car, Sasuke was sitting as far on the driver's side as he could, making it entirely obvious he didn't want Naruto's person to soil his crisp and clean uniform. It made Naruto very concious of his own dirty clothing as he climbed into the car and shut the door.

The driver, a stoic man wearing circular sunglasses and a bandana turned his head to the side and said simply "Seatbelts, please." Then, pushing up shades that didn't need adjusting, he turned forward and began to pull the car off of school property.

Naruto glared at the guy's back while pulling the safety unit across his shoulder and over his lap. Hearing the soft click that told the object hit home, he slouched back into his seat and folded his arms. His bag sagged against him, taking up over half of the middle seat. Naruto turned to face the window and watched as the scenery flew past him.

The entire journey was silent as the two boys were taken to the prestigious Uchiumi mansion, located in the heart of the city on a prim and proper looking lane with neatly groomed trees and carefully cultivated walled flowerbeds lining each side of the street. He could just picture the little brick planters saying 'Stay out, there are wealthy flowers in residence here!' Naruto wrinkled his nose; he was definately in unknown territory.

Surprisingly, he didn't like how neat and ordered everything looked. It was all too... He couldn't find a suitable enough word. Already he missed the overgrown weeds of his neighbors, the rundown and artfully-tilted buildings of the outer city limits. He missed flowers growing in any place they could take root, weeds fighting picturesque plant life for the best and most nutricious soil available. He missed all of the people wandering around, stepping where they pleased, rushing towards the unknown prospects that the future promised to any who worked hard enough.

It was incredibly boring.

With a start, Naruto realised that with all his daydreaming, they had arrived at the gates of the Uchiumi estate. Naruto watched, wide-eyed, as the car was flagged in by a pair of security guards. They looked like they should have been standing in front of Buckingham palace or something, for all the emotion they showed.

The car rolled through the gates, the wrough iron obstuction giving a somewhat ominous creak. Naruto watched, his eyes drinking in the scenery, as they passed through a very expensive, very boring landscaped front yard. Or perhaps it should have been called a park, since it was as large as the playground area in Naruto's neighborhood and then some.

The car pulled around the gravel driveway and stopped silently. Sasuke opened the door to get out, and Naruto followed after a moment of hesitation. When he got out and closed the door, stepping away with his bag in hand, the car immediately pulled away. Sasuke was walking towards the blonde, and as he turned around, Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The outside of the Uchiumi manor was something from an old novel. The house was an old victorian that looked like it could fit an entire city block and house everyone comfortably. It was mostly done up in black, the trimming being a very dark grey coloring, and the massive giant held at least three stories. There was a porch, in dark wood, that wrapped around and disappeared behind either side of the building. A few steps led from the paved walkway to the front door, and as Sasuke began to walk forward, ignoring Naruto, the normally cheery youth followed in dumb silence.

He had known Sasuke was rich, but he hadn't known the bastard was _that_ rich! It was completely unfathomable for Naruto's already overprocessed mind. He numbly followed Sasuke into the house, where he stepped onto the foyer.

It was a large entryway, paved with seamless tiles of expensive looking white marble and walled with dark cherrywood paneling. Ahead was a large banister and sweeping staircase, polished and gleaming in the sun. To either side were doors, large ones with carvings and gilded doorknobs and looking like they were a fortune in and of themselves.

Sasuke looked behind him and saw the idiot, standing there and staring dumbly at everything. Getting irritated, since it wasn't all that great, he said to Naruto "Don't just stand there or you'll be run over."

Naruto let out a question, but it sounded more like a squeak. "This is your house?" Sasuke's indignant look, asking if Naruto was really saying that, confirmed everything. Naruto's saucer-wide eyes didn't become any smaller.

When Sasuke started to walk up the staircase, Naruto followed in silence. He was too busy looking at everything in every direction to notice the scowl, even though it was almost always present on the brunette's face, had deepened as they climbed the stairs and made it to the left hall.

Sasuke was hoping, desperately hoping, that he could make it to his room without running into his brother. He didn't care if it meant locking himself in the same space as a dimwit he couldn't stand, it was better than being seen with the annoyance when his brother came to call.

Of course, there is a law that states that when a person wants to slink away and hide, nothing of the sort happens. Sasuke should have known; it happened to everyone he knew, and it happened to him all the time. So, just as he was about to pull out the key to his room and breathe a sigh of relief, his brother made an appearance.

A shadow fell over the door, and Sasuke stiffened. He turned to face his brother, Itachi, who had a scowl on his face and was looking at Sasuke's blonde companion with disdain.

Itachi was one of those people who you could look at and just _know_ who was in charge. He carried power like a cloak cast on his shoulders, one that he never removed and hardly ever shifted. With eyes and hair that nearly mirrored his younger brother's, Itachi looked like a much older Sasuke. The only difference that could be seen physically, besides height, was that Itachi had two premature wrinkles leading from the inner corners of his eyes and drawn in an angle. Of course, if anyone ever pointed them out, Itachi nearly bit off their heads.

Although they were nearly identical physically, personality-wise they were polar opposites. Itachi was a ruthless taskmaster while Sasuke was still a teenager who had, as his he was constantly told, 'impossible dreams that would never prove real'.

While this was going through Sasuke's head, Naruto had different thoughts. He was thinking that those cold eyes, boring right through him, were going to kill him. It wasn't that far of a stretch from reality, though, especially since Itachi had a reputation for being a deadly businessman according to what Naruto had heard.

The fact that whoever had said that meant it in a metephorical manner didn't occur to the frozen blonde.

"Who is this?" Itachi demanded. His eyes flashed to Sasuke.

Sasuke drew himself up, straightening to his full height. He felt like he was going to the executioner's block. "He's from school. I'm working on a project with him."

Sasuke held his breath as Itachi examined Naruto like a lab rat.

Thankfully, after a minute, Itachi nodded. It wasn't with approval, though. Rather, it was a nod that said Sasuke would be allowed to have him in the house, but only because his grades depended on it.

If it were anyone other than Itachi, his turn would be called a flourishing pivot. But this was Itachi, in his black armani suit, and he never left with anything but a cold stare and shuddering people he had just dealt with.

Sasuke let his breath out, convinced that the worst was over. But that was another law that dictated his life- there was always something worse. Just before he was out of earshot, Itachi said, "Some guests are coming over later tonight. You would do well to make sure your guest is gone by that time." Then he turned the corner and left.

Sasuke glowered at the floor momentarily, bad mood setting in again (Sasuke wondered when it had lifted), and fished out his key. Jamming it into the lock, he tried to tune out what Naruto was saying. Even though he agreed with the dunce, though he would never admit it.

"Who the hell was that?" Naruto was saying. "I assume he's your brother, but what's with the metal pole shoved ten feet up his ass? Talk about family resemblance," he muttered, and Sasuke got the distinct impression that he wasn't supposed to hear that. Naruto continued as if Sasuke hadn't stopped moving. "I mean, what's his problem? He looked like he knew he owned the world."

Sasuke opened the door with a click and interrupted Naruto's little monologue. "That's because he does own the world, in every sense of the word." Sasuke stormed into his room, throwing his bag onto his bed.

Naruto scrambled after him, politely shutting the door behind him. "What do you mean, he _does_ own the world?"

Sasuke stopped on his way to his miniature kitchen, adressing the adolescent behind him. "Whoever holds the most money holds the most power. Whoever holds the most power owns the world. Itachi is the richest son of a bitch that ever lived." He continued to storm over to the kitchenette.

Naruto's jaw nearly dropped. He couldn't believe that Sasuke had said that about his own brother! They were _family_. What had happened to make the two brothers so bitter and cold with each other, he wondered.

Naruto set his bag down near the doorway, shifting slightly. Now that he was effectively stuck in Sasuke's room, he decided to look around. He was surprised with what he saw.

He had expected Sasuke's room to be large, yes, and darkly colored. He had expected expensive furnishings and even the large, canopied bed that sat on the edge of one wall. He had definately expected the neat organization of the room, and even something along the lines of the two large windows flanking the bed and the four doorways leading off to one side. But he didn't expect the pictures.

In Naruto's mind, the image of Sasuke Uchiumi didn't fit with pictures in the image. In fact, had anyone said that the brunette was obsessed with captured moments of time, he would have laughed and corrected them. But the proof was in front of him; no, it surrounded him. All four walls, covered with glossy photographs and inked paper, with wooden picture frames and hardly any color showing from the origional walls.

Naruto couldn't help but be slightly impressed. He had never known that Sasuke had been capable of something as powerful as photography, and was even more impressed by the assumption that Sasuke had taken all of the pictures himself.

Wandering around he room, he looked at the collage of time. Here was a picture of Sakura, in one of her sad funks. There, a picture of Ino and Shikamaru fighting with each other. All around him, Naruto was recognizing people he knew. There were pictures of his friends, pictures of Sasuke's friends. There were even pictures of the teachers.

There was one picture that confused Naruto, though. It was one of himself, when he had been playing tag with his friends way back in grade school. He hadn't realised he had been photographed. He didn't even know he had looked that happy. He had just been having a fun time with his best friends, laughing and playing suring recess all those years ago. Which made him wonder...how had Sasuke gotten a picture of him like that?

Sasuke walked out of the kitchen, a bottle of water in one hand and an apple in the other. He saw Naruto immediately, standing with his back to Sasuke and staring at something he found incredibly interesting. It took a moment for Sasuke to realise what the blonde was looking at. When he did, his mind reeled while his demeaner remained the same.

Naruto felt someone staring at him, so without turning, he asked "Did you take all these yourself?" Sasuke confirmed it, so Naruto asked the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since noticing the picture of himself. "Where did you take this one?"

Sasuke took a large gulp of water. "That's none of your business."

Naruto spun around, eyes flashing. "Listen, you bastard. That picture is of me, and I didn't give any consent to you for taking it. I want to know when and where, and why!"

Sasuke sat on his bed, one leg folded under him and the other set on the floor, facing Naruto. "That's too damn bad, dobe. I don't need to tell you anything when it isn't illegal to take pictures of people without their knowledge. As long as you don't reprint them," he added as an afterthought.

Naruto practically growled. "I want to know! That's me in that picture, in case you didn't know. Tell me!" Naruto fisted his hands at his side.

Sasuke bit into his apple thoughtfully. Coming to a decision, he said, "I don't have to tell you anything." Inside, Sasuke was wondering why he was so adament on keeping the photo a secret. It was just a picture, after all. Another part of him wondered why Naruto was getting so worked up over an old picture.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "You son of a bitch." Angrily, he stalked over to his bag and picked it up. Sasuke watched as Naruto opened the door to the hallway, walked out, and slammed the door shut behind him.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


	7. Chapter VII

A/N: Hey, all, sorry for the short chapter and the wait. A lot has been going on, and this couldn't really be that much longer because of the next chapter's contents. Any longer and this chapter would be a novel in and of itself.

And now, some news. I was out-of-writing service all last week due to a back infection. Not my fault, but I couldn't sit right (and I still can't), and I'm just today going back to school. Missed all last week, and it's the end of the quarter, too.

I have a bunch of stuff going on the next two weeks as well. I get to go visit relatives, and then after that I'm working at a music fest for a couple days. Why am I bringing this up? **I'm not going to be able to update. At all. During those two weeks.**

So, that's all I've got so far. I owe a big thank you to Kyoji-kun from Gaia, who gave me Sasuke's scene idea. If not exactly, it inspired me...otherwise this chapter would have been A LOT shorter.

And now I'm done rambeling. Read and enjoy.

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Sasuke had always hated parties. They were stuffy old things, where everyone tried to impress everyone else. They would all convene on one person's property, the annoying cockroaches of the wealthy world, and try to pick at the dregs of riches that were left over from a successful family.

Dinner parties were the worst. During those, Sasuke had no choice but to sit and attend them for as long as the dinner commenced. It was made even worse when Itachi would always make a point of making them after the French restaurants, a full three-hour meal.

Too bad for Sasuke, only one third of that meal was over with. And to top matters off, he was sitting beside the two most annoying creatures to ever walk the planet.

On the one side, he had Sakura next to him. She was chattering his ear off about some fashion magazine, wearing a gaudy pink dress and having her limbs weighed down from the sheer mass of gold jewelry that she had decked herseld out in. Her hair had probably taken a good two hours to do, piled on top of her head and making her look like she wore the Eiffel tower.

On the other side, he had Ino. She was trying to out-dress Sakura, he was sure, since she was wearing (if it were possible) an even horrid dress than the pink-haired girl was. Her dress was a grey blue color and had so much glitter on it that every time she moved, she shed. Her hair resembled less of the Tour d'Eiffel than the leaning tower. The weight of all the jewels strewn through it had caused it to tilt to the side. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if she would break her neck that way. He hoped she would.

Sighing, Sasuke flagged down one of the servers and had some more wine poured into his glass. He was well aware of the fact that he was probably drinking a little too much, but it was better than listening to the inane chatter that was brought around by feminine hormones.

Besides, this was only his third glass. He figured he could handle a lot more before he became too drunk to know one female from another. Plus, there was no way in any sort of hell that he would get caught drunk around two predatory women such as Sakura and Ino.

Taking another sip from his now-full glass, he wondered about his life so far. Wondered, because he wasn't quite sure if he was reflecting on his life or just complaining about it.

And, of course, the first thing to cross his mind was a certain annoying blonde. And if he had been completely sober, he might have really wondered if he wasn't ill or something, because he wasn't supposed to be giving any thought to Hamasaki outside of how incredibly annoying and idiotic he was.

But it was curious to him as to why Naruto got so worked up over a single picture. It wasn't like it was one of the idiot naked...Sasuke shuddered as a mental image of Naruto in nothing but his birthday suit decided to manifest itself into his mind. He took a very large gulp of his drink while he tried to get the image out of his head.

Sighing, he slouched. Not even a frightfully cruel stare from his brother could make him sit straighter. He really didn't want to be at the dumb thing anyways. He didn't even know why Itachi had him there, outside of a sort of reminder to the world that he was a good older brother, taking care of his younger sibling and keeping him from trouble, the streets, and poverty.

Sasuke smirked at a new mental image, one of his brother completely out of character as he 'glomped' his little brother. That had about a snowball's chance in hell of happening.

Which wasn't such a bad idea, considering. If anyone were to ask Sasuke, or even care about the answer, the brunette would have loved to have lived on his own. He wouldn't care if he had to work for everything. It was a miserable existance indeed when he had to rely on a family member of whom he was _positive_ didn't like him.

He could almost envy people who hung out with Naruto. That in itself was a depressing thought, especially when Sasuke knew how they all lived.

Kiba worked part time at a rundown restaurant and gave the rest of his time in volunteer work at the local animal shelter. He had only a mother, lived in a ghost of a house, and was always scrambeling for money to pay bills and utilities.

Lee, on the other hand, lived in the middling area. He only had a father and spent most of his time doing emergancy construction work. He worked late and started early, yet he and his father made enough money to live somewhat comfortably. Plus, Lee had all kinds of days off during the winter and still got paid for it.

Gaara, on the other hand, lived in the same building as Naruto. Like the blonde, he, too, lived on his own. Also like Naruto, the redhead got a monthly allowance from the government for being an orphan. It was hardly enough to pay for housing and all of the other bills needed, but that was made up for by the two each having jobs. Naruto worked at a local grocery store. Unfortunately, Sasuke didn't know where Gaara worked. It was a complete mystery to everyone, it seemed, but the stoic teens young friends.

Sasuke realised that he was out of wine and, had he been any other angsting teen, would have pouted because of it. Instead, he sighed (an action of which he realised he seemed to do a lot of) and pushed his glass back.

Just as he was wishing he could shoot himself, one of the final courses was brought out. As it was placed in front of him, and Sakura and Ino ceased their chattering, Sasuke thought _At least, when this part it over, I can go lock myself in my room._ He began to eat.

_

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Floating in an abyss, he was sure this was a familiar scene. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember why it was so familiar. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket, safe and out of danger_

_Then he was flying over a landscape at record-high speeds. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was aware that if he wasn't careful he would crash into something and become a halfway decent imitation of a pancake. He wasn't too worried, though._

_Suddenly, he was falling. He began to thrash around, trying to flip himself over. Not that it would do any good, trying to land on his feet. Something was preventing him from saving himself, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Scenes swirled around him, seeming to decide where best to deposit him._

_As everything seemed to slow down quite suddenly, the swirling colors made up their mind and threw him into a room. It was, for the most part, empty. There was a railed balcony on on end, and opposite that was a pair of hands. The hands made some sort of symbol that nagged in the back of his mind, but he couldn't place where they were from._

He was fighting with someone, and it looked like it was his best friend. Kiba, and the little white puppy that he was working towards adopting. Akamaru, or something. They were working together, fighting for something, wearing their school uniforms.

_No, wait. That wasn't right. He was fighting like an animal, as if he were possessed by a kanine. And he was wearing an odd outfit. A grey jacket, the hood up, fuzzy fur surrounding the object, blending in with his hair. He also wore blue cotton pants, with bandages wrapped around one of his legs. Was he hurt?_

_But no, too late, he was back to the current Kiba._

_Looking up, he saw the new gym teacher, Gai. The bowl cut-haired man was standing there in his turtle shirt, arms folded. Lee was there as well, both looking pretty much the same and overlooking the battle._

_Then they were both wearing horrible green spandex, with orange leg warmers. It nearly burned his eyes to look at them. Then, in a flash, they were back to normal._

_With the blink of an eye, he noticed Mr. Hatakenaka, wearing the black slacks and turtle neck. The scene swirled around the silver haired teacher, and the outfit changed with him._

_Now he was wearing what appeared to be black breeches and a black turtle neck. A green vest with many pockets sewn onto it was closed over the shirt, and bandages wrapped around his legs from knee to sandal-clad feet. Gloves covered his hand, but not his fingers, which made it odd in his mind._

_The scene was of a forest, a little clearing in the trees. In seconds, the Hatakenaka look-alike whipped out a book. His face was incredibly serious, making the entire situation incredibly funny. The book, entitled _Come Come Paradise_, was flipped open to somewhere around the middle, and the psych-teacher, now in his modern clothing, began to laugh and gasp at appropriateintervals._

_Another scene change. This time in a new forest, along a path that led to some unknown place. Mr. Hatakenaka was back in the old clothing, stuck inside a globe of water that looked more like a prison or a cage._

_Hovering over him, with his hand in the water, was Zabuza Morioka. He had a giant sword-like object strapped to his back over an unclothed chest. His breeches looked like they belonged in the army or something, patterned in grey and white camoflague. He wore sandals like everyone else did in the past, and had his arm covered with some loose, elbow-length purple-striped gloves. He also had half his face covered in bandages._

_He himself was standing, facing the two. He knew that if he looked behind him, he'd see his two comrades._

_As all this flowed into his mind, the psych teacher, back again in modern clothes, spoke. "The demon...Zabuza!" He was staring straight at his captor, both eyes wide and accusing._

_The past-turned-modern art teacher would have been smirking had anyone seen his face. "It would seem my reputation has preceded me."_

_A blink of an eye, and a weapon was flying past him. The one he had given one of his teammates, but how he knew, he couldn't say._

_Another blink of an eye, and Zabuza was being picked up off the ground by a person dressed in a green haori with grey hakama, a ceramic mask covering his face. He disappeared with a whirlwind._

_Another flash, and they were in a newforest. There was a girl- or was it a guy?- sitting in front of him in a pink kimono, a little black necklace encircling his neck. He smiled and turned to him. A blink, and he was wearing the grungy outfit of the student art teacher, Haku. She- he?- was talking._

_"Do you have anyone special in your life?"_

_A blink. The masked fighter was being thrown across the scene. Getting up, his mask cracked and fell, revealing the face of Haku of the past. Then he was in modern clothing again, and another change followed as they fought on a bridge._

_Mr. Hatakenaka, Mr. Morioka and Haku. They all coverged on one end, all of them from the now and dressed as he had last seen them. Mr. Hatakenaka had a hand full of something, something he knew was powerful and deadly. And he was going straight for Mr. Morioka. Just before that deadly something hit, Haku leapt in front of him._

_Then they were in the past again, and Haku was smiling._

_Another scene. This one of Sasuke, his teammate, his comrade, his friend, facing the Haku from the past. He was standing there, shaking, and he turned his face to say something. "...No matter how many times I warn you, you still keep getting in my way."_

_He turned around fully, and he saw that Sasuke was stuck with needles. He was bleeding from all of the cuts, and clutching his stomach. "Now get that lame expression off your stupid face...dobe!"_

_A blink, and they were both facing each other. He was standing, looking up at Sasuke, who was standing on a building. He had just returned from Otogakure... His heart was racing._

_Another blink. They were inclass, and someone bumped into him. Then they were kissing each other, even if it was accidental. So why was his heart racing?_

_Blink. Sasuke glaring at him, during the first exam, because he had raised his hand. Why did it hurt when he wasn't supposed to care?_

_Blink. He was frozen, facing those people attacking him. He was going to watch Sasuke get hurt. He didn't want that to happen. He needed to move!_

_Then he was watching Sasuke freeze in front of a strange woman. That wasn't like Sasuke. Why wasn't he moving?_

_Then they were facing each other, fighting on water, ignoring any and all laws of physics. He didn't want to fight him._

_A blink, and it was the young boy fighting for his life._

_A blink, and a worse scene came up._

_Blinking, blinking, they wouldn't stop. They sped by his eyes, flashing across faster and faster until they were just a blur. They swirled around in a whirlpool of sights and emotions, each more confusing than the last._

_Then it all darkened, turning into a black abyss. They faced each other, Sasuke looking down on him with a sneer. He knew that he was wounded, where he had been stabbed by someone he had trusted. He could feel life slipping from his fingers, why, why...?_

_"Urusatonkachi, did you really think I'd stay with you? That you and I could really belong?" The speaker leapt forward and drove a weapon into his heart. With a gasp, he fell into the man's awaiting arms. "You were never meant to be...Naruto."_

He awoke, screaming.

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End Chapter

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Thanks to Kyoji-kun for inspiration

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


	8. Chapter VIII

A/N: It's about time, isn't it? I've finally, after two months of not updating, _finally_ finished the eighth chapter.

I feel pretty guilty about this, but I've never had such a bad case of writer's block. I've thought long and hard on each of my stories and their plots, and I hope that my ideas work out and that nobody is disappointed with an anti-climactic plotline.

What's been going on other than writer's block, which has made it hard for me to update, would be the fact that I went to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd in the middle of July (and got to meet him and get his autograph, and stand on stage to watch him...although, I have yet to meet anyone who knows who he is or has heard his music.), then I went to my cousin's for a seven-year overdue sleepover. After, it was my birthday, and then I went in for surgery. Yes, surgery- my first one, which had me nervous.

No harm done, though, and I'm officially done with the infection. Don't have to go back to the doctor, unless it recurrs, and I'm so happy about that! Anyways, I digress.

After my birthday (and I dyed my hair before that, which was fun), I had the surgery, like I said, and couldn't sit for a week. Which, roughly, brings me to now, when I slept over at my cousin's again and helped her get ready for her classes. In fact, she teaches art, so if I ever run into trouble with art projects, I can just filch ideas from her. Fun.

Moving on, I'm hoping that I'll be able to write another chapter for this within the next few days. It's not like I have much to do, especially with school coming, and I really do feel bad about the almost-repeat of the time between the first and second chapters (in case you don't know, it took me five months to update). There are a handful of people I would like to thank before the story, though, as they helped me to come up with ideas (no matter how long it took me to actually _write_ them):

**Streetwise **(I haven't used your Oro idea quite yet, but it gave me some plot ideas for later, so I'm incredibly thankful. However, I did use the painting one)**, bottlecaps **(I've now got a climax to my story thanks to you, so now it won't be anti-climactic...hopefully. Not exactly your idea, but a branch of it, so thanks)**, vixenia** (I actually went and read some SasuNaru fics, and took your advice to re-read some of my story. That helped, and I hope this was faster than you hoped for)**, and Nadramon **(Great minds think alike (crazy ones as well) and I've already got some plot ideas for the future that go along with some suggestions that you gave me. Nothing cliche (I hope), and to say that Sasuke and Naruto aren't the only people who are going to have a lot of past-going-on's. If that makes sense...) **I owe you guys my story's life.**

And now, the long awaited, long delayed, long-in-the-making chapter.

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Stepping out of the shower stall into the cold, misted bathroom, Naruto's mind was exhausted. It wasn't the kind of exhaustion that came about from too much thinking (and, regardless what the majority thought, Naruto did like to sit and wonder on different things when he was bored) or overly extending a muscle. It was the kind of exhaustion that said 'I've had enough', shutting down the apparatus in question.

Such was happening to the young high schooler. His dreams were, quite literally, killing off brain cells. He had started getting massive headaches during the days, but only if he had one of his dreams the night before. Other than that, he was usually fine. He had never woken up with a migraine before.

He could tell that things were getting worse, even if he wasn't quite ready to admit it yet.

On the bright side, waking up in the middle of the night had had it's positive effect over everything. For once, the blonde youth was going to be on time, if not early, to his class.

However, the fact was also dimmed by the cold shower he had taken right away in the morning, for there had mysteriously been no hot water yet. Buckets of freezing cold tap water could put a damper on anything, no pun intended.

Now, completely dressed, orange towel slung haphazardly over his desk chair, Naruto grabbed his bag. He had run out of ramen the night before, which meant that he would have to stop by the grocers on his way home from school. That wouldn't be so bad; he could see one of his friends while he worked, and, quite possibly, get a friendly discount.

Opening his door, Naruto was just locking it on his way out when a neighbor ran into him. The young tyke was a common sight in the building, wearing a long blue scarf no matter the weather and sporting a pair of goggles atop his mouse-brown hair. He looked up from his place where he had fallen on the floor, brown eyes meeting blue.

"Konohamaru," Naruto started, shaking his head. But before he could say anything else, the young lad scurried to hide behind Naruto's figure.

Just in time, as a biker ran up, obviously searching for something. The man, his hair and eye colors hidden behind a black bandana and black sunglasses respectively, glared at Naruto.

"You," he said, pointing. "Has my son passed this way?" he demanded.

Naruto knew full well that Konohamaru was Ebisu Miyamoto's son. He knew full well that Ebisu had his father living in this complex, and absolutely loathed that fact. Naruto further knew that Konohamaru loved his grandfather more than his father, and it was a commonly known fact that Ebisu was an ass big enough to rival the all powerful Uchiumi family.

It didn't take much for Naruto to play dumb and seem like he didn't know what the man was talking about. Mr. Miyamoto left in a huff, glaring at anything that moved on his way out.

Konohamaru crept out from behind his hiding place and heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought he'd never leave. Thanks, boss!" The young elementary schooler saluted Naruto.

For some reason, the kid had decided that he was Naruto's self-appointed disciple in life. He had gone as far as to mimic everything from Naruto's living habits, all the way to the way Naruto chose to dress (_chose_ being the operative word. Naruto had never liked wearing uniforms...).

"Oi, aren't you supposed to be in school?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Konohamaru shook his head. "I don't have to go for a couple days, so I'm camping out at Gramp's place." The way he held himself, Naruto knew that the young punk had gotten suspended yet again.

Shaking his head (because, really, there wasn't anything Naruto could do about it, despite what others said), Naruto pulled the brunette along behind him. "You just might make me late, Konohamaru, on the one day I actually get up on time." He ignored the young boy's sputtering. "So, I'm going to drop you off at the geezer's house, and then I'm going to leave. And no, you are not coming with."

"But boss," the kid Miyamoto whined, "I want to stake out future territory. I gotta be prepared, you know," he said.

Naruto ignored him as they approached an apartment five doors down from Naruto. The normally sunny teen knocked gruffly on the door and waited until it was opened shortly after. An old man, wrinkles wrought over his kind face, an old pipe clenched between strong teeth, poked his head out into the hall. The rest of his body was hidden behind the door.

"Ah, Naruto," the man, Sarutobi Miyamoto, said. "I see you've picked up a shadow again."

Naruto nodded, glaring at Konohamaru. "And he's going to stay here, without following me." Naruto pushed the stubborn boy through the small crack between door and frame. "Sorry about that."

Sarutobi shook his head. "It's alright. Just stop by sometime later and we'll call it even."

Naruto said his goodbye's with the man he looked to as his own grandfather and finally, without any further mishap, made it out of the building and onto the road.

Unlike the day before, Naruto had luck in getting to the government building unscathed. He had remembered all his books (he made sure to double check that morning, as he didn't want to get in trouble with Iruka again), he wasn't soaking wet, and he was feeling rather good about the day- regardless of a growling stomach.

This time, since it had taken longer to get to school than normal, he was only a couple minutes late. He was able to actually get to his first block class, cringing when he saw the serpentine teacher. It didn't help that he not only didn't have any friends in his class, but there seemed to be only one seat open, and that was between Sakura and Neji. What luck. 

Everything the teacher said during the class (he had yet to find out his name, just recieving a death glare for interrupting a long, boring lecture) went through one ear and out the other for Naruto. He never did understand anything remotely logical, math and all forms of sciences included, and the only reason he was in the class was because it was required to take a science class (and pass it- Naruto had already taken biology and an environmental science class, and failed both) in order to graduate.

Second block was no better. The teacher had, once again, somehow, made it late to the class ("I found a dolphin stranded on a beach, sick, and had to painfully nurse it back to health and help it return to the wild," was the excuse) and gave out a quiz that resembled the final ("I have to make sure you're getting somewhere," he had told them, to the complaints and whining of the class). Everyone failed.

Third block had a pop quiz on the material that they had covered the week before- Naruto, not having been there, didn't even bother to fill out the thing, instead opting to catch up on some sleep.

Lunch was fairly painless. Gaara had, if not forgiven Naruto, had decided to ignore him. Not that he talked much to begin with, but the effort was clear. So, while he sat and glared at his blonde comrade, Naruto and the others complained about school in general.

By the time Naruto got to Iruka's class, the youth was in a decently foul mood and wishing he had stayed in bed. It would have been much less painful.

The ever perceptive english teacher noticed right away that something was upsetting the young Hamasaki. It wasn't anything normal, either, like the various fights he and his friends sparodically had, nor an annoyance upset that he constantly went through when it had something to do with Sasuke. It was something different.

When class ended, with a new book being assigned for reading, Iruka motioned that Naruto should stay behind. Next was Iruka's prep hour, and he could always give the boy a pass to his next class. When the class was empty, and everyone had left, Iruka shut the door and faced Naruto.

"Somethings bothering you," he stated.

Naruto wouldn't meet his eyes. The young boy looked incredibly tired for some reason, an unusual change from his usually chipper, bubbly personality. Not many people would know that Naruto had a side like this about him- he rarely ever showed it, and even then, it was only around a handful of people, Iruka included.

Iruka waited for a while, hoping Naruto would say something without further prompting. When five minutes of tense silence passed and Naruto still didn't say anything, the young professor said, "Tell me what's wrong. I know there's something that's on your mind, and it must be either serious or pretty bad if reading or writing can't cheer you up."

Naruto didn't know whether or not to tell his mentor about his dreams. He hadn't told anyone, but maybe it would help. He was so confused by them, he didn't know why he had them or what they were trying to tell him. It was like he was being handed a giant puzzle, but he neither knew how the peices were supposed to fit, nor did he have a clue as to what the picture looked like.

A small internal struggle ensued, the adolescent orphan battling between telling Iruka and trying to deal with it on his own. He began to list positive and negative situations in his mind, trying to pick the better option.

Finally, when he couldn't counter the fact that Iruka had never thought that anything Naruto had ever said was stupid or impossible, he decided to tell the brunette adult. "I've been having dreams," he said, looking up. Iruka, instead of concern carved into his features, had a carefully placed mask of impartiality coating his face. Naruto filed it into the back of his mind as something to ponder later, since Iruka almost always wore his emotions on his sleeve, and began to describe the different dreams that Naruto had had over the course of his life.

Finally, he ended with the one he had had that morning, and then looked up at a very thoughtful teacher. He waited for the man to speak.

"Well, I don't know why they're happening, or what it all means," he began, "but maybe you should start keeping a journal of them. See if there's a pattern." Iruka leaned on his desk, crossing his arms. "You never know- if you can connect them together somehow, you might figure out the why to them, at least. However, I think it's about time you left for your last class- I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss it."

With a start, Naruto realised that he had talked all through his gym class. He dumbly took the pass he was handed, written in Iruka's telltale scrawl, and, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, was herded into the swarming halls.

Looking back on the conversation, Naruto got the feeling that he had been pushed from the class for a reason. He had the feeling that Iruka was hiding something, and he wanted to know what.

Art was a relief for Naruto. He was able to take his frustration out on the underpainting, adding shading and different colors when necessary. It was a strain to get the right color of black, since they couldn't use the paint straight from the bottle, and it helped relieve some of his anger and annoyance at the dreams.

"Those are some furious strokes," Haku said from behind the blonde as he pulled his paint brush from the canvas. "You can definately tell which one would be you; you're the only one who hasn't tried to blend in the colors perfectly."

Naruto blinked, then realised that the student assistant was right. There were areas where the black color was rich and looked like it had been created in a factory, and in other places, reds, blues, greens, and even a handful of yellow blobs pulled through. It made the black backround seem to swirl and shift as you looked at it, each hue pulling his eye into a different direction, seeming to cry for attention from the viewer.

"I meant it to be that way," Naruto said with a small smile, knowing that most of his artistic wonders were pure accidents and unintentional. "It'll draw more attention to the shadow figure."

Haku nodded. "So, is there a purpose to this, or is it just a random concoction, like some of the other ones that others did?"

Naruto shrugged. "I've just seen it a handful of times in my dreams. It's kind of wierd, because it's the only dream I've had where I can't tell who it's supposed to be. But I think it works, a little, if I don't screw up."

Haku shook his head, smiling. "I'm sure you won't. From what Mr. Zabuza tells me, you've had many of your paintings in various art shows, and have even sold some. That's no small feat."

Naruto flushed from the praise and scratched the back of his head with one of his paint-coated hands. "Thanks, but I'm sure that there are a lot of people who are much better than I am."

Haku laughed in response, telling Naruto that he was too modest, and then moving on to help other students and give his ever-important opinion on their projects.

The rest of the class flew by, Naruto working furiously on the background to get it just perfect. Since it wasn't a very big surface to work on, it didn't take much to cover it with paint, but by the end of class, Naruto still wasn't happy with how the background looked. He refused to move on until it was color-perfect, which meant that the next time he went to class, he would be working on the same thing.

Cleaning up afterward, Naruto was feeling much better about the day. He had worked off nearly all of his negative emotions, and he was on his way to becoming his normal, happy self.

Until he got to the front of the school, and saw Sasuke standing there, obviously waiting for him. Naruto hesitated a moment, then decided to walk past him and ignore the bastard. He was still mad about the picture, and wouldn't let go of that emotion lightly- not when Sasuke wouldn't answer his questions.

He walked out of the school, on his way to the food store a mile or so away from his house. He still needed food- he had forgotten money for lunch, again, and hadn't eaten for nearly a day. He was hungry, he had a small tab running at the grocer's, and he was determined to stop his stomach from growling if it was the last thing he did.

It took him a good five minutes before he realised he was being followed. He turned to face his stalker, which was Sasuke, and fisted his hands at his side, clutching his bag with a white-knuckled grip. "Stop following me," he snapped, before turning and continuing on his way.

The footsteps didn't stop, and he waited a block or so before turning to face Sasuke again. "What do you want, you bastard? I don't want anything to do with you, so leave me alone and go back to whatever hole you crawled out from."

Sasuke fixed the blonde with a scowling stare. "Need I remind you that it is only the threat of failing the class that I'm even making an attempt at working with you?" the callous Uchiumi stated.

Naruto walked up to the youth, slightly taller than himself, and glared up at him. "I don't care if you fail. Go cry to your big brother for all I care, I'm not working with you."

Sasuke's eyes flashed. "You can't stop me. It's a free world, and I can walk where I want. If I choose to follow you, it has nothing to do with you. I don't have to have your permission to walk, Hamasaki."

"It does have something to do with me, if you plan on stalking me all the way to my house." He growled. "Leave me in the lone, I'm in no mood to deal with a stuck up ass." He turned and started to walk away again.

Sasuke followed again. There was no way he was going to fail the class and get another lecture from his brother- he had already been lectured at for failing to entertain his peers the night before.

And it would be a freezing day in hell before Sasuke Uchiumi failed in anything.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review.


	9. Chapter IX

A/N: Well. This was a lot sooner than I had thought it would be, since I was struggeling with bringing Jiraiya into the picture. Yes, I'm including the old pervert, but there's really only one other character that I'm thinking about bringing into the story. If your favorite character isn't here, you can request them, and I'll see what I can do.

However, I'm mostly happy with the second part, wherein Sasuke goes to Naruto's apartment. Fun times, that...

Speaking of Naruto's apartment, I have decided that I like Naru-kun's bathroom too much. I'm going to model my bathing room after the one in this story, complete with bright orange towels (which I'm waiting to go on sale, but have already found and gotten many odd looks when I nearly screamed and began to pet them. - -')

Anyways, I hope I don't get anyone too out of character here. I'm not trying to make them OOC, but if they are, please remember that this is a reincarnation fic. They aren't going to be carbon-copies of their past, so I deserve some character-leeway.

Final note, I gave all of my stories themes, if you haven't seen. I'm thinking that _Iris_ (by Goo Goo Dolls) fits pretty well for this story, but it is subject to change if I find one that fits better.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to Nickelback, nor any songs from their CD _The Long Road_. I'm just using them, please and thank you.

I lied- one last thing. Can anyone guess who the buxom blonde is? -n . n- I'm sure you can...

Now, enjoy this chapter. Next one is a time skip! (Finally!)

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Sasuke still hadn't been shaken off by the time Naruto got to the market. Situated at the corner of Naruto's block and the main street, it was a small, probably family owned (Naruto had never found out if it was or not) and had the quaint feel of a business which had been alive for decades. The blonde had no idea why the pompous Uchiumi was still following him, but he probably wouldn't be able to break away from Naruto's friend.

The blonde walked into the store and made a bee-line for the packaged pasta section. There was a small area of ramen reserved for Naruto only, and it was never touched, lest the boss, Naruto's pal, decided to attack anyone who made the stash disappear.

That is, unless it was someone like the girl who was examining the pile. She had a very buxom figure, her shirt pulling in all of the right places, her skirt just a bit shorter than what was considered decent, and her lips jutted out in a small pout. And, the pervert was standing there, trying to help her buy it!

Jiraiya Nagano, old yet looking in his mid-thirties, complete with smiling eyes and white hair that reached to the middle of his back, stood trying to peer down the woman's precariously cut shirt. He wore a red shirt with khaki pants, rubbing his hands together and agreeing with everything the woman was saying.

"Yes, there's only one person who buys it, and he's not here. Come now, it's a good deal. Five for a dollar! Tell me that isn't the cheapest you've ever seen?" he asked the blonde, pig-tailed costumer.

"Oh, so I'm invisible, am I?" Naruto said. "You think you can just sell _my _ramen without _my _knowledge?" Naruto brought a fist up to his face.

The girl stood and blushed. "I'm sorry, I was just considering tasting some," she said in her high, definately feminine voice. "I've never had it before, but if you like it that much, I wouldn't dream of taking it." She was slightly taller than Naruto, and patted his head affectionately, then turned and left.

Jiraiya sputtered. "Wait, don't leave...!" The girl walked to the register, completely ignoring the old pervert she had left behind. Jiraiya, a hand reached out as if to stop her and make her return to him, couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had thought he'd had a chance... With deadly purpose, he turned to face a ranting Naruto.

"...believe you almost sold it all! I thought we had a deal, you old pervert, but you broke it! How many other times have you done... Ow!" Jiraiya's fist bounced off of Naruto's head, causing said appendage to get knocked down. Naruto looked up with a heated stare to face the white haired grocer. "What the hell was that for, you perverted hermit?"

"You interrupted my sale!" Jiraiya's anger matched Naruto's. "The costumer is always right, and I was right to offer her a chance to buy what she wanted. But you had to go and ruin it."

The arguement that proceeded was vicious and highly entertaining for the slowly gathering crowd of middle-aged mothers, young children accompanying them, and various bachelors that had to shop for themselves to survive. It nearly escalated to a fist fight, if the cheering hadn't gotten so loud as to break the two fighters from their rage.

Jiraiya scattered the crowd as Naruto began to shovel ramen packages into his basket. "Idiot pervert, always thinking about women, doesn't possess a single brain cell..." Naruto muttered as he got the necessary food he was out of.

The white-haired shop owner folded his arms. He waited until Naruto had stood up, then glared at the sun-kissed boy. "I hope that isn't all you're buying," he said. "I was hoping to be able to sell some of that to _other_ people, not just yourself."

Naruto waved a hand. "Whatever. Just put it on my tab, and I'll be going." He walked to the register, unloading his basket. Jiraiya watched in silence, contemplating the complex youth that he had taken under his wing. The boy was growing into himself, and in more ways than one. The hermit was glad for that, and hoped that nothing bad would happen to the teen.

He watched with dark eyes, holding more wisdom than could be gained in a lifetime, as Naruto left the store.

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Sasuke watched Naruto leave the crowded little shop. He caught his classmate shooting him a glare and shrugged it off. He had followed the adolescent thus far, and he wasn't about to turn back now.

The neighborhood that they walked through was a shabby place, one that just screamed gang activity and random acts of violence. Nothing was in any semblance of order; the streets, sidewalks and buildings hadn't been cleaned in ages; there were more homeless people than Sasuke had ever seen in his entire life; and they were approaching a building that looked like it had been built by an unmatched set of Lincoln Logs. The brunette wanted to turn his nose up at the filth, only barely stopping himself from sneering at the passersby.

Naruto walked into the building without any regard for how rundown it was, and Sasuke barely caught the door. As soon as he walked in, he hurried to catch up to the blonde, rubbing his hand vigerously against his pant leg. He shifted his bag in his hand, wishing he could wash hands that felt like they had been through the sewer.

The youngest Uchiumi didn't break a sweat climbing the ten flights of stairs that lead to Naruto's apartment. He had had worse excersize in his own home, dodging girls and women alike who had tried to corner him and foist themselves onto his person. He watched Naruto pull out a key, force into the lock while juggling two giant bags of instant ramen packs, and finally get the place open.

He addressed Sasuke without turning. "If you're coming in, hurry up," he said in a gruff voice. Naruto hadn't thought that his peer would make it even halfway to his home, and he wasn't a cruel bastard (like a certain someone), to turn away someone who obviously wished he was elsewhere.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow before walking forward, catching the door and entering the small domain. He shut it behind himself as he got his first look at his adversary's den, and if he hadn't had as much control over himself as he did, he would have fled in terror.

If Sasuke had thought it was bad outside, among the lower-classed masses, he wasn't prepared for the mess that was Naruto's collection. It appeared as if everything had been bought, used, and left where it lay. The apartment had a feel of a battle ground, with random piles of clothing dotting the floor in between dirty dishes, old papers, crusty leftovers, and things that Sasuke didn't even _want_ to know about.

He delicately picked his way through, following Naruto and wincing as the youth not only took off his shoes to walk, stocking-clad feet not caring where they stepped, into the kitchen.

It was a nightmare. Nothing appeared to have been cleaned since the boy moved in a decade or more ago. Sasuke, having always been fastidiously clean, tightened his lips and closed his eyes. If he could just pretend he wasn't there, if he could just pretend he was in his own room, if he could just ignore the smell that wouldn't leave him alone...

"Forgive me if I forgot to clean, seeing as I didn't know I was going to have visitors," Naruto said with sadistic humor. He was enjoying Sasuke's discomfort entirely too much, relishing the way the teen had paled and refused to open his eyes. "I'm not used to people coming over."

Sasuke's eyes snapped open. "Just how can you live in a...pigsty like this?"

Naruto smiled darkly. "Just as easily as you can live in a place that doesn't have a noce, homely touch to it. You're place is like a museum," he commented off-handedly, snagging the last ramen package from the bag (miso, his favorite) and getting ready to make some.

He saw Sasuke wince out of the corner of his eye as he stepped over a package of old, moldy bread, and smirked inwardly. He purposedly pulled a dirty pan from the sink, washing it out without using any soap or disinfectant, and put it on the stove. "Would you like anything?" he asked a little too innocently.

Sasuke shook his head mutely, his eyes shut once more. Naruto noticed that his eye had started to twitch ever so slightly, and filed it in the back of his mind for future reference.

The horrified adolescent wished that he could take a deep, cleansing breath, but didn't dare. The air smelled like rotting chicken sprinkled with growing mold and old spices. Not a pleasent combination.

Naruto shook his head. "Jeez, you act like you've never been in a disorganized place before."

"Disorganized?" That was the biggest understatement ever. "Idiot, that's like saying my room is only _slightly_ messy. I can't believe you live here."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "How I live is none of your business. It's my house, and I'm _so_ sorry that I haven't been home enough to keep it all nice and shiny for you."

Sasuke cracked his eyes open slightly. "And just what could be so important, more so than having a clean living space?"

"Oh, I don't know," Naruto said sarcastically, "a job? Homework? A life?"

"You have a job?"

A snort. "Of course I do. Not all of us are rich bastards like yourself, you know."

A glare. "I don't make a point of living off of my brother's charity."

"That doesn't change the fact that you're the world's biggest prick."

"You can't even keep up decent grades."

"At least I'm not a mindless jerk."

"Asshole."

"Demented ferret."

"Dimwit."

"Persnickity."

"That's not even a word, dumbass."

"Of course it is; it means that you're obsessively compulsive, moronic imbicile."

"Brainless oaf."

Before they could continue clashing words, the timer went off. Naruto spun and began to furiously put together his meal, his stomach growling in anticipation. He slowly tried to calm himself, as he was spilling more than he was making. It didn't work very well, though, and by the time he was brushing past his glaring counterpart, he had less than half of the water he had started with.

He saw Sasuke turn, keeping his person in sight at all times. Naruto sat on his chair, the only clean surface, and dug into the tantalizing noodles. He covertly watched Sasuke as he sneered, winced (though he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been watching the teenager closely) and generally disapproved of Naruto's apartment.

"If you hate it so much, you're welcome to clean," Naruto offered with a mouth full of food and an evil smile on his face. "I wouldn't complain, and it'll give you something to stop your annoying fidgiting."

Sasuke wanted no more than to attack the blonde, but he was afraid of touching the pile of...something, that sat right at Naruto's feet. It looked like something that would leap up and attach itself to an unwary person's face, leeching the life from their mouth and turn them into evil, unwashed, gurgling, unclean minions.

Sasuke didn't move, and Naruto finished his meal off trying not to give into the murderous annoyance at the brunette's constant twitching. Finally, having reached his limit and the end of his ramen, Naruto stood and walked up to his rival.

Sasuke tensed, waiting to see what dark intentions the blonde had in mind. Naruto crossed his arms, leaning back ever so slightly so that he didn't have to appear to look up to the Uchiumi. The young Hamasaki tapped his fingers on his arm for a moment, making the paranoid other twitch a few more times, then offered a proposal.

"Since I'm about ready to kill you if you don't stop fidgiting, and I my apartment is overdue for a decent cleaning," Sasuke nearly snorted with disbelief, "you're going to help me. It's obvious that you're going to keel over dead if you don't do something, and this way, we won't kill each other. Hopefully."

Sasuke really couldn't believe the offer, and couldn't imagine lowering himself to clean the pigsty that was the blonde's living quarters. Still, he couldn't help but gag when he looked at all of the dirty possessions, and reluctantly consented.

Naruto rolled up his sleeves. "Right then. I have no idea where to start, so pick your victim and do whatever needs doing, I guess," he said a little uncomfortably. He didn't know why he had offered to clean his apartment- he couldn't stand the business, and put it off as long as humanly possible. Still, he couldn't take back the offer once it was out of his traitorous mouth, and so he turned with the Uchiumi and began to pick up things that he would keep.

Sasuke found a bag immediately, and started stuffing it with garbage. Within minutes it was filled, and Sasuke knew that he would be taking a long, scalding shower when he got back to his house. He had taken off his jacket, revealing a white tee-shirt underneath, and walked to the door, placing the garbage bag next to it. He located another bag, and repeated his task.

Naruto picked up a compact disk that had been laying upside down and smiled. "I had forgotten I had this," he said to nothing.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Naruto looked up, saw, and held up the CD. "Nickelback, The Long Road." It was one of his favorite bands, and he had thought he had lost it many, _many_ years ago.

Sasuke smirked. "What do you know, that's one of my favorite bands as well." That was, when he could listen to them. Itachi Uchiumi severly disapproved of Sasuke's taste in music, insisting that he was going to become influenced by the lyrics of the artists. Of course, Itachi's idea of good music included Bach, Beethoven, and the like. It had caused Sasuke no end of torture, hearing the 1812 Overture over and over again in his youth. Really, he had his older brother to thank for his music tendancies.

Naruto, glad that there was a safe topic he could talk about and just pretend he was talking with one of his friends, continued to talk as he sorted through various disks that had escaped the confines of their cases. "I like the song Because of You for this soundtrack, but it's not my overall favorite."

Sasuke crouched, wincing as he began to shovel an unknown substance into the plastic bag he held, wielding a plastic spoon as his weapon of choice. His own thoughts echoed a similarity to Naruto's, except he had never talked music with his friends before. "Personally, I prefer Believe it or Not."

That started a heated debate between the two teens over which song was better, which lead to the merits of hard rock versus metal, and then to a debate between artists and music styles. Before either of them knew it, the living room was twenty-five percent cleaner than it had been, and it was nearing eight in the evening.

By silent agreement, as Sasuke left, they would uphold a truce as they plowed through the wartorn apartment that belonged to the blonde student. Outside of that, however, it was anything goes. But it was progress, and a truce that would hold for some time.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review.


	10. Chapter X

A/N: Well, now I've got the time skip. And we're getting somewhere. And, since I couldn't think of anything to do with any other story, nor anything for a one-shot, I wrote this. Which was a lot of fun, since you find out what Gaara does, and you also get a new dream. X3 The plot is thickening slowly.

Right, well, special thanks to all supporters of this story. I forgot to mention this before, but when I asked for help, Recyclables got the largest response. It seems that even though ACE and ANY are my most popular stories, Recyclables has more fans who are loyal and don't want it to die. I was pleasently surprised, and so kudos and cookies to everyone who has ever read this. I wouldn't be able to do this without you.

In answers to questions, or speculation, the blonde from the previous question is the _Orioke no Jutsu_ (Sexy no Jutsu, if you don't know) reincarnation. Just wanted to do something with that... Also, the last chapter was needed to get them to set aside their differences. Otherwise, this wouldn't be a SasuNaru!

And now, no more rambeling. This is in honor of school, starting tomorrow, and just because I'm a twisted fangirl who has to torture my favorite characters. X3 Enjoy!

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Sasuke glared at the bathroom. He couldn't believe that anyone, not even Naruto, could pick such a horrific color scheme. Who in their right minds put a ridiculous color like neon orange in an otherwise calm and collected, revitalizing bathroom?

Apparently, annoying blonde idiots who seemed to have an affinity for eye-straining colors.

It had been weeks since the two teens were assigned the project together. They had just had their mid-terms a week ago, and had a further three and a half weeks until the finals. In that time, they had to know each other a little more. Just a little, as they still fought almost daily, and many times, the fights had nearly escalated to physical brawls.

With little to no help from the sunny student, Sasuke had worked at getting Naruto's apartment to rights again. There were times when, had Sasuke been less of a man than he was, he would have gone into crying hysterics and babbled incoherantly from the things he had found. There were things so bad, things that Sasuke hadn't even seen in his worse nightmare (or so he supposed, since he still couldn't remember his dreams), things that made him wince, shudder, and break out into a cold sweat when he thought about them.

However, he perservered. Now, all that was left in the trash heap that was Naruto's home, was the bathroom. The tasteless, horrid, fashion black-mark room that made designers cry when they saw it.

It was nearly as bad as the other rooms. Sasuke had thought that the kitchen was bad before, but that didn't hold a candle to the bathroom. The only thing that was somewhat clean was the shower, and that had mildew starting on it. There wasn't a fan to take away most of the humidity when the shower was used, which had only bread the mold, moss and other fuzzy questionables that grew on the walls, corners of the floor, in the sink, and out of the toilet. Sasuke had to wonder if anyone would be able to salvage the room, in the end.

Naruto poked Sasuke in the back, causing the boy to jump. "Oi, what's so special about the bathroom? Haven't you ever seen one?" he asked with a smirk.

Sasuke turned to glare at him, and Naruto noticed with the air of a plotting evil mastermind that he had gotten Sasuke's eye to twitch. Again. That brought the total amount of times Naruto could be that annoying up to one thousand, seven hundred and fifty three. And counting.

"How can you live in a place where you can't even use the bathroom?" Sasuke asked, closing his eyes and trying not to blow up. He didn't know if he would attack the smiling annoyance, or just break down then and there.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I have a key to the old geezer's place. I just go there if I need to use the bathroom while I'm here. Besides, I'm not home a lot any more, not since Mr. Hatakenaka started this whole thing," he added informatively.

Sasuke had just spent four and a half hours finishing up cleaning the bedroom. He refused to tackle the bathroom at that moment, and made the decision obvious when he stormed past Naruto and put the cleaning supplies away in a neat fashion, under the cleanly sparkeling sink, in the surprisingly spacious kitchen.

He turned around, nearly running into Naruto. The adolescent was staring at him intently, causing Sasuke to become uneasy. He didn't know it, but Naruto's dreams had taken a different turn. They were getting clearer and clearer, and they were starting to seem as if they were a different life. It scared the blonde immensly when he started to experience odd emotions coming with the dreams, especially when nearly ever dream with the imposter-Sasuke came with an emotion that resembled love a little too much for his taste.

Naruto was lost in thought, until Sasuke broke his reverie. "I know that I'm good looking, but that's sad if I'm attracting idiots like you," he said with his self-important smirk. The bastard.

Naruto couldn't help the slight blush that brushed his cheeks, though. "Shut up. I was just thinking." He had a sudden urge to stick out his tongue childishly, but that would just earn him a scathing remark from the fairly stoic brunette.

"Be sure you don't hurt yourself by thinking too much." So much for not recieving an insult. Naruto supposed he walked right into that one.

An awkward silence fell over the two, a clock ticking away cheerily somewhere in the background. Naruto shifted as Sasuke's gaze peirced through him. It was becoming incredibly uncomfortable, and he wanted to do something about it. Anything to stop the staring. He got an evil idea. "Hey, I want to go visit a friend," he announced.

Sasuke blinked. "Oh? And just what does that have to do with me?" He folded his arms over the white shirt that belonged to his uniform. It was getting colder and colder, as summer slowly transformed into fall, and so the shirt was long-sleeved this time.

"Hey, you're the one who wants to pass the class," Naruto pointed out as he ran into the bedroom. He shut the door and locked it, quickly stripping and changing into some (mercifully) clean clothing- a pair of ragged jeans and a black shirt that read, in bold white lettering, 'I'm Ninja (You can't see me)' on it.

He walked out, and smiled inwardly at Sasuke's scoffing look and the twitching eye. Fifty-four. He motioned for the Uchiumi to follow him, slipping on a pair of old tennis shoes and grabbing his keys from a hook that the brunette youth had so kindly installed a week ago.

Sasuke followed him out, thinking about what he had learned about the blonde. He was a lot more complicated than Sasuke had first thought, his mind more complex than Shikamaru's. The young student had learned that Naruto liked to write and draw, and that he was incredibly good at art. In retrospect, he couldn't count more than ten without taking off his shoes. It also seemed that the chipper adolescent could only ever find odd jobs to work at to pay the bill, even though he ought to have been recieving a stipend from the city for being an orphan.

They also shared incredibly similar tastes. They liked nearly all the same bands and forms of music, had the same like of a decent sundae (Naruto had been shocked to find that Sasuke was an avid fan of fresh strawberries over chocolate ice cream), and enjoyed reading similar material.

However, they also had their differences. A gaping example was their taste in fashion, and the amount of tact they used when people insulted them. Naruto was a fan of sticking up for his thoughts and beliefs no matter what, oftentimes standing and shouting his opinion to the world, whereas Sasuke took a more subtle approach to insults and jabs at his preferences.

Still, they were starting to get along fairly well. One could almost say that the boys were on their way to becoming friends. Almost, but not quite. They still had too much between them to become the best of friends overnight, but maybe, in the future, if they could get over their differences, if they could agree to disagree on many things, if they could start to stand each other...

Sasuke nearly ran into Naruto's back. He hadn't been watching where he was going, his eyes instead being trained to the ground, watching his feet. He looked up curiously, to see a bright, rainbow-colored building. There were flowers everywhere, writing that looked like it was done by a second grader, chalk drawings covering the front entry, and a fence leading to a wood-and-metal playground peeking timidly from behind the building. Children screaming and laughing told tale that this was quite obviously a daycare center, if not a preschool building. The sign gave evidence to the former.

Naruto grinned, his smile malicious and oddly twisted for someone whose grin could light up a third-world country for nearly a decade. "See, this is where one of my good friends works. And I haven't seen him here for a while, so I'm going to go help him out with the little demons," he announced. His eyes told Sasuke that if he followed, he would be dragged into things as well.

Sasuke didn't like children. Rather, he could stand them, but they had a habit of running screaming when he so much as glanced at them. Hence, he had never really spent time around the brats. It just didn't fit in with his personality.

Still, he decided to follow Naruto in. He wondered which friend worked there. Right away, Lee and Gaara wouldn't work there. Lee would scare kids even more than Sasuke himself due to those bushes he called eyebrows, and Gaara's stare would kill a kid. That left Kiba, and he worked with puppies and possessed the energy needed to keep up with energetic children. He supposed that it would be Kiba that worked there.

They walked into the place, Naruto talking quickly with a young woman at the desk. He handed Sasuke a visitors pass, and they walked deeper into the building's confines with a smile and a nod. A handful of lefts and a right, through a threshold, and then they entered a playroom full of screaming children running around chaotically.

Toys of all shapes and sizes littered the floor. Plastic blocks stacked against each other haphazardly provided caves and places for children to hide. There were games and crayons and coloring books and multitudes of cushions and pillows littering the battlefield that made up the room. And, through it all, the children played.

Naruto ran into the fray without a care. "Hey, all! I'm back!" Cries of "Brother" and "Naru" were sent through the air as each and every child made a mad dash to the blonde. Sasuke couldn't help but think of him as a magnet, and each child had somehow honed into him and found a place to cling to the laughing high schooler.

Sasuke hung back, unsure about what to do. He didn't want their grubby, messy and germ-stained hands to wipe themselves all over himself, so he stood there, scowling and glaring at Naruto (who was acting like the idiot he was, rolling around and taking turns tickling and being tickled).

One young boy, with messy red hair and bright, innocent eyes walked up to Sasuke and started staring at him. Sasuke turned his glare to the child, thinking that the boy would just run away crying. He was mildly surprised when the boy just cocked his head to the side with curiousity. "What's your name?" he asked.

Sasuke debated not answering. "Sasuke Uchiumi."

The boy smiled, missing two front teeth and obviously not caring. "My name is Tatsui Kuwabara. Are you here with brother? Are you going to be our brother, too?" he asked with all the naivete of a five-year-old.

Sasuke was at a loss for words at answering, but he was saved the strain by a new person entering. Wearing jeans and a blue shirt, looking as if he would be better seen on a date than at a daycare, his red hair a bright contrast to the outfit he wore, Gaara walked into the room. It explained why Sasuke didn't terrify any of the brats, and he realised this with only a small, unused portion of his brain. The rest of his mind was too shocked at discovering a cold-hearted person like Araya.

Gaara's gaze flickered to Sasuke, the only movement that acknowledged the brunette. Otherwise, he waded into the sea of children, pulling them off his friend. The kids obeyed the silent command with surprising speed, backing up obediently while still telling 'Brother Naruto' everything he had missed.

Gaara stuck out a hand and helped Naruto to his feet. "It's been a while," he said simply. His gaze flickered once more to Sasuke, asking the silent question that he didn't vocalize.

"Oh, we're still working on the project," he offered as an explaination. Gaara looked at him skeptically, but didn't say anything else to refute Naruto's claim.

"We're going to have some stories," Gaara said over the noise made from little chattering voices. They immediately raised a cheer, scrambeling to take places on the various pillows and seating mats placed chaotically about the place. Twenty or so hands went up, eagerly waving to try and get the red-head's attention. "Tatsui," he called, picking the brave soul that had stood up to the infamous Uchiumi stare.

"I want the new guy to tell a story!" he exclaimed, pointing to Sasuke.

Sasuke blinked, and got an uneasy feeling as Naruto, Gaara and all of the children looked at him expectantly. "I don't do stories," he said, glaring at Naruto for bringing him there. The children began to pout, whine, cry, and demand a tale from the stoic teen. Even Naruto joined in, flopping on a cushion and folding his legs under him.

Sasuke became annoyed, but as he didn't know where the place was, and because he needed Naruto to get him back to familiar territory, he couldn't just leave. So he angrily shouted "Fine, just shut up already!" to the cheers of innocent kids and began to tell the first story that popped into his head. As soon as he finished, Naruto took a turn, and then (surprisingly) Gaara, before the cycle started all over again until the children's parents returned to pick them up, freeing Sasuke from the impromptu hell and allowing him to return to his home for some much needed aspirin and sleep.

--:o:--:o:--:o:--

_It was dark. The night swept across the town, a town filled with mercenaries and children training to take the place of their elders. He was in the most expensive district, the one that he lived in, the one that held the most prestigious family. He was walking home, unable to get there fast enough._

_It seemed like he was walking in a dream. One minute, he was making his own innocent way to his house, and the next, he was looking upon the bodies of fallen family members. He was in the street just before his own, the one that harbored the branch members, aunts, uncles, cousins and other extended relatives. They were all dead, littered across the lane in no pattern, bleeding from wounds that had taken their lives within moments._

_He was running, then, running to them, hoping that the killer hadn't made it to his house, hoping that he would find the same bloodbath. His bag hit his side, bouncing in an ominous tandem as his breathing became quicker, a stitch formed in his side, fear engulfing his heart._

_The door opened in front of him without prompting. He saw his parents there, saw them standing, smiling, waiting to welcome him home. Then they were falling, blood spraying from their wounds. His brother, his idol, the person he loved almost as much as life itself stood over them, the bloody murder weapon in his hand._

_He attacked. Rage, betrayal and grief ate at his soul. He couldn't stand it. He had thought his brother had loved him, had cared for his family, had been someone worth being. It was all a falsety, all a lie, a lie, a lie, lies lies lies lies lies..._

_Then love. A warm feeling. A sunny person, someone he could relate to, a fellow orphan, someone who had been betrayed and hurt like himself by countless people. Someone who wouldn't back down, or act like a lovesick fool, or betray him. Someone he was free to love, free to be with, free to spend the rest of his days caring for..._

_A blonde streak. A sharp pain. A windmill of shadows, his weapon of choice, flying at him. He couldn't dodge, he had been poisoned, he could feel himself dying, being dragged from the world of living, could feel the demon wind shuriken imbedding itself into his stomach, tearing, shredding, ripping through._

_Then a laugh, the cheery smile he so loved, the one person he thought wouldn't abandon him, standing over, an evil gleam in his once laughing gaze. Words, barely penetrating the roaring that came with the last breath, "You should have known better", should have known, I should have, should have, should have, should, should, should, I knew it, why did I believe it would be different, not different, all the same, same, same difference, different, different, different, never different..._

_And a promise. A promise broken, a heart shattered, a soul shredded to peices, death in anger. Finally, darkness, darkness, dark, dark, dark, keep the dark away, the neverending night the point of no return, keep it away, keep it away, keep it away, away, away..._

For the first time in his life, Sasuke awoke screaming, the events of his dream forever etched into his mind.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review.


	11. Chapter XI

A/N: I apologize for taking so long, but I've had four months of writer's block on anything that isn't a one-shot. I won't put on any excuses other than that, nor anything else than this excuse. You want to read, if you are reading now, and I want you to. So go read.

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Sasuke had been avoiding Naruto all day. The dream he had had had scared the shit out of the brunette. He didn't know what to think- it was like he spent too much time around the idiot, and now he was paying for it. It really didn't make any sense, and Sasuke still couldn't wrap his mind around it.

So he had decided to avoid the blonde. It wasn't anything personal- he hoped- and the brunette had purposedly arrived late to school, surrounded himself by people he knew would try to claim his attention, and with which he could pretend to pay attention to and have a viable excuse for ignoring Naruto. He didn't care if Naruto looked confused and angry- Sasuke just couldn't deal with the sunshine teen for the moment.

The fact was, Sasuke really didn't hate Naruto. Sometime during the four and a half weeks they had been working together, learning about each other, Naruto had earned a grudging respect for Naruto. He was impressed that Naruto spent so much time with a brat in his building, how loyal and devoted he was to those he cared for, how open he was with his emotions. Sasuke knew that he respected Naruto, if only because the teen was everything that Sasuke wished he could be, and couldn't.

Sasuke snuck a glance from the gaggle of girls he was surrounded by, locating the shock of blonde hair easily. They were in their last block, and Naruto was making an attempt at finishing up his first peice. Sasuke had asked Naruto about it, learned it was from a dream he had had, and had watched as he struggled to get it perfect. The teen had been constantly shoving it away and pulling it out, repeating as he frustratedly growled over it not being right. Sasuke thought it was fine as it was, with the swirling dark colors, the shadowed figure ready to leap out of the portrait, the shocking, red, pinwheeling eyes threatening to start spinning at any given moment. It moved the onlooker, and Sasuke had heard many of the other students talking about it, giving their reluctant compliments, and yet...Naruto still wasn't happy about it.

Sasuke turned his own attention back to the teacher and Haku. They were explaining the homework, which would be an excersize in using different mediums and different shading styles. Sasuke tried to pay attention to the teacher as he explained that they would be using five mediums- charcoal, watercolor, pen, ink (which wasn't the same as a pen, as Mr Morioka kept pointing out), and pastels- and had to divide a paper into six sections, reusing one of the mediums in the sixth square. The class was allowed to draw anything, so long as it was school-appropriate and didn't take up too much space. They also had to use a different style of shading in each sqare.

The bell interrupted Mr. Morioka's rant on treating tensils like lovers (a concept Zabuza loved, since it made most of the class uncomfortable) and the students made a mad dash towards the doors. Sasuke was at the front of the crowd, having put his stuff away earlier and not wanting to meet up with Naruto. He ignored Sakura, bouncing next to him, and Ino, on his other side asking for a date. He nodded as he passed Shikamaru, and quickly left the premisis.

He was able to shove the two leeches from his person when he got to his car, and he told the driver to leave them in the dust, or something to that effect. He leaned back, his thoughts already returning to his dream the night before. Why had it happened? He had never remembered his dreams before, so why should it happen now? Was there a message to be sent? If so, what was the message?

Questions swirled around in his head, one after another, in a neverending stream. Sasuke needed answers. He planned on holing up in his room, fully intending on dissecting his dream to figure out the hidden meaning. He sighed, watching the scenery pass, and let his thoughts roam.

* * *

Fed up, Naruto needed to talk to someone. He couldn't understand anything at the moment- Sasuke avoiding him, being hurt over being ignored by the brunette, the multitudes of emotions that plagued his mind at the moment. He couldn't seem to grasp anything, his mind refusing to wrap itself around the only conclusion he had come up with in the passing day, and so he did the only thing he could think of- he went to Iruka. 

The halls had long since emptied of students and most personnel, but Naruto knew his mentor liked to stay after. Whatever for, Naruto didn't know, since Iruka always managed to get his paperwork done during the day. It wasn't like he had any really pressing matters to attend to in school, nor a girlfriend, or even much of a life as was defined according to the teenage populace.

Naruto should have known something was up just from those conclusions. However, he wasn't about to go and analyze Iruka's life for him. A second indication that something was going on should have been the shut door, windows covered with construction paper, that barred Naruto's way into the room. But he didn't suspect anything was happening, and nothing short of being able to see through walls could have prepared him for what he walked into.

He was sure his eyes would be scarred for life. His teacher, Iruka, was pressed up against the chalkboard with no shirt on. He was lip-locked with a familiar teacher with silver hair, and neither had noticed their audience. It looked as if they were enjoying themselves immensly, and didn't even look up when Naruto let out a feminine squeak and backpedaled out of the room. Although, looking back years later, Naruto figured they probably knew he was there when the door unintentionally slammed behind him.

Iruka...and Mr. Hatakenaka. Together. Intimate. Probably dating. Naruto's mind was on its way to being overloaded, and so he didn't struggle or move when a hand shot out of the room with his two teachers in it, pulling him into the empty classroom. When Naruto finally realized he was back in it, he immediately flushed.

"Um..." He noticed that, this time, Iruka had his shirt back on. He also wouldn't meet Naruto's eyes, a slight blush staining his cheeks. Kakashi, on the other hand, was probably smirking underneath his ever-present turtleneck. Naruto cast his mind about for something to say to break the (for him and Iruka) awkward silence. Kakashi saved him from sticking his foot in his mouth.

"Well, what can he help you with?" the silver-haired teacher asked with an annoying smile. "Don't worry about me either- according to the rest of the school, I'm at home." He winked at Iruka, who blushed deeper, and held up a peace sign.

Naruto hesitated, but when Iruka nodded encouragingly, he took a breath and began to tell his mentor how Sasuke had been avoiding him, and how he felt about it. Naruto had never held anything back when it came to Iruka. He was one of the few people in the blonde's life that could be trusted to the fullest, and he honestly forgot that Kakashi was still there.

Iruka fidgeted, and Naruto found it a bit odd. Yes, the blonde had walked in on him and...Kakashi (his mind still couldn't fully comprehend the thought), but it wasn't as if it were a life changing, earth shattering, thunder pealing discovery that would forever scar his fragile little mind. Was it?

Iruka and Kakashi shared a look, both wearing the same, careful masks of blank emotion. Unlike the last time Iruka had devoid his face of all emotion, Naruto picked up on it immediately this time. "Iruka?" he asked with confusion. "Is something wrong?"

Iruka wondered what to tell Naruto...the truth? Possibly? Would he believe it? He rubbed his forehead, his internal debate keeping him from saying anything for the moment.

Kakashi once again saved the day. "You're remembering," he said simply. Naruto gave him a look that said he was crazy, so Kakashi clarified. "It's one of your past lives; one of many, actually. It was the first time that you and Sasuke fell for one another, and each person in your life has, since then, played a part- Sasuke, of course, has always been yours." He winked.

Iruka groaned. Naruto stood, mouth agape, wondering if his psych teacher needed a shrink himself. "Stop pulling that bull with me. What's the truth?" He narrowed his eyes, looking between them, wanting things laid out in front of him to make a complete picture that made sense.

Iruka couldn't take back what his...friend... had said, so he went along with it. "Will you let me explain, without interruption, no matter how crazy it sounds as long as there's proof?" he asked his student. After a reluctant nod, during which Naruto glared at Kakashi, Iruka began his tale.

"It all began around five hundred years ago. Back then, Ninja were a common sight in the world. There were many villages, but I'll spare you the details until a later date. There was one where you were born, along with Sasuke. You were rivals from the start, always fighting, always trying to better one another. There is a long, impending story to go along with it, but in short, you each reached the rank of ANBU, or elite assassin. It was around then, when you two were working as some of the best Black Ops that Konoha had seen, when you started to show affection for one another."

Naruto made a noise in the back of his throat, but Iruka plowed on. "I don't know how it happened, but one day, you and he were different. It wasn't a physical difference, because you still looked the same, and you were always seen around each other. It must have been something unconcious, a way you carried yourselves, like you hadn't a care in the world. Putting things together, your teammate, Sakura, found out that you had become a couple." Iruka looked over at Kakashi, who waved. "Kakashi and I weren't very far behind you, back then.

"Anyways, people were shocked. You were the last of your clan, and Sasuke was the last of his, after the murder of his family and, in retrospect, after killing his brother. There was no way either of you would have a future generation, and that bode ill for a bloodline like Sasuke's. They tried to take you down, convince you that you two were making a mistake. Being as stubborn as you two were- and still are -you didn't listen. Instead, you made a promise.

"You were in a clearing, and Kakashi and I were out walking when we heard you two talking. You said that you couldn't bear to think of living without him, no matter what others thought, and you wanted to stay with him. Sasuke agreed, but neither of you knew what you could do: you couldn't marry, because that was as unthinkable back then as it is nowadays. So, being the loudmouth you were, you swore to him that you'd never forget him, nor your love for him, and he swore the same thing.

"You died shortly after that, just after becoming hokage, when Orochimaru attacked the village one last time. Sasuke took his revenge, dying in the process, and that was that.

"Or so we thought. See, Kakashi and I borrowed your idea and swore that we would never forget one another either. Reincarnation seems to be working for us, because from that life on, the same thing has been happening- dreams of the original life that created this string of events, eventually memory recollection, and living life with the ones we love." Iruka stopped, looked up at Naruto, who stood stock-still.

Things were flooding back- memories, happier times, a time when he and Sasuke were together. With the memories came feelings, overwhelming him to the point of nearly losing conciousness. His heart felt like it would explode, longing and wistful wont filling him to his ears. He shook his head, breathing hard with the new change that was coming. He tried to stop it, but something was preventing it from happening. It appeared that his promise, the one he had made with all his heart, wouldn't let him deny what he had felt, what he felt now, what he had felt all along ever since the beginning of time.

It was too much. He felt like he was being burned out from his insides, and he couldn't take it. He knew Iruka was talking, that he and Kakashi were saying something to him, panicking in their attempts to get him to listen. He couldn't take it, and so his overloading mind did the only thing it could to protect him while he came to terms with his newfound emotions.

His knees buckled under him, and he collapsed.

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End Chapter

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Any questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review. 


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